'We still want to improve' - The farming couple who have bred Aberdeen Angus herd for 30 years

“Running a pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd is done with passion,” says Penny. “That underpins everything, the passion to produce better cows. I refer to the bulls that we produce as ‘happy accidents’ because we are all the time trying to improve the cows and by focussing on the appropriate traits you do throw pretty damned good bulls."

And the couple’s passion at Tree Bridge where they first started their herd in 1995 is clearly as vibrant as ever given the results they have recently received through their breed competitions and at big summer agricultural shows.

“It was the North East of England Aberdeen Angus Club Competition just the other week,” says David. “And we won Best Cow, Best Senior Stock Bull, Best Large Herd and Best Herd Overall,” says David who is past president of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society.

“And the week before that it was the Aberdeen Angus National Summer Show held at the Border Union Show at Kelso where we had Reserve Champion Female with Tree Bridge Polly Perkins T699 and Reserve Champion Heifer Calf Tree Bridge Estella Z087.

"Tree Bridge Polly Perkins T699 also won her class at the Great Yorkshire Show in July.

“The quality of our cows is improving all the time, which is what we’re trying to do. We’re now at 75-80 cows, run three stock bulls and do AI work, we are trying to mix and match different bulls with different cows. Doesn’t always work but that’s what you have to do.”

Penny says running three bulls shortens the calving interval, the bulls don’t miss anyone and are not overtired, and that their latest bull, bought last September, is one that they will be watching closely.

“This is one of the few bulls we’ve bought in. We were fortunate enough to go on the farm of West Yorkshire breeder David Isherwood and saw the quality of stock this bull was throwing and thought it would cross well on our cows.

“We usually identify the traits in an AI bull and use them on our best, most consistent cows, that we know generation-upon-generation have bred so many different quality bulls. That’s where we get our really tight phenotype from by trusting our cows to do what they do.

“The bull, Weeton Black Brooke V539, had been sold from David Isherwood’s farm,” says David. “And we saw he had a group of bulling heifers, and we thought bloody hell these are good. He’d sold the bull to a guy down in Norfolk but then the buyer was dispersing his herd at Carlisle last September.

"I spoke to him and he sent me Whatsapp videos of the bull, but unfortunately we couldn’t go to the sale because the sale date was Stokesley Show. I spoke to the auctioneer and left instructions to buy the bull. He’s with the cows now, we will have to see how he breeds.”

Such has been David and Penny’s commitment to the breed, their passion and their ever increasing knowledge of breeding and processes that they now regularly sell 30-35 bulls a year going mostly into commercial herds.

“We have built up a very loyal bull customer base all over the country from Devon to Orkney, Anglesey to Lincolnshire,” says David. “We sell 80 per cent to repeat customers and also 80 per cent from home. Our top price this year was 7500 guineas at Carlisle in May.

“Two-thirds of our bull sales are generally to beef farmers, and one-third dairy. We sell a lot of bulls up into Northumberland around Hexham where they have excellent suckler herds. We have a man in Orkney who we’ve never met and he’ll buy a bull a year off the figures and Whatsapp videos.

“We’ve also sold females to help new herds set up. We had ten heifers go to a herd near Hull this year where a farmer was increasing his numbers of his pure herd and is supplying Dovecote Park with purebred Angus cattle.”

Penny was concerned about the calving ease of the Tree Bridge Angus herd some years ago, a trait that the Angus bull is known for amongst suckler herd and dairy herd farmers.

“Our calving ease has improved with greater knowledge and understanding. What we have found is that EBVs are only a tool and that phenotype is the most important thing to us.

"Our main criteria for that is functionality, skeletal correctness, and if anything falls below that marker no matter how well bred it is, it goes and then goes for beef – and that’s what keeps everything right. Time and quality never stand still, there’s always another link in the chain.”

David puts their process of quality and whether an animal stays or goes like this.

“Every process is a chain and in every chain there’s a weak link. You fix that weak link and it just means the weakest link is somewhere else. We are looking to improve all the time.”

David and Penny’s last two shows of this year are Westmorland County Show (Wednesday 11-Thursday 12 September) and their own local Stokesley Show (Saturday 21 September) where David has been involved for many years.

“I’ve been running the cattle section at Stokesley Show for probably a bit more than 20 years and chair of the management committee for 10-15 years. I first remember going around 1977.

“It’s one of the shows where it still has pretty much the full range of breed classes: Dairy Shorthorns, Ayrshires, Holsteins, Jerseys, Dexters, Angus, Hereford, Longhorn, we’ve Lincoln Reds with their own class first time this year. Limmies, Blues, Blondes. The commercials are always very strong too.

“I say to breeds to enter the Any Other Breeds classes and if we get sufficient numbers we will give you your own. Breeds develop and evolve in popularity.

“I think it’s brilliant that Pateley Show (Nidderdale Show) is on the Sunday (the next day) because now there are a number of cattle that leave Stokesley Show and go straight to Pateley and I think both shows’ cattle sections benefit. There’s scope to develop a prize for the animal that does best that goes to both shows.”

Penny says the pulling power of Stokesley marks it out as a special show.

“At the Great Yorkshire Show we had the likes of Stephen O’Kane and Thor Atkinson, top showmen, deciding which animals they were bringing because they love the show so much. You’d think they wouldn’t be bothered about a local show but they love it!”