A special auction sale of 94 pedigree Aberdeen-Angus yearling heifers, exported to Germany from six UK herds last week, will take place in Bavaria on Saturday, April 28. It is the first-ever sale of its kind to be held in Germany and has been organised by German importers in conjunction with Hexham-based specialist pedigree cattle, semen and embryo exporting company, Eggs-Port Ltd.
“The sale is creating huge interest throughout Europe,” Eggs-Port’s Sheila Eggleston said this week. “The high health status of the heifers qualifies them for export to all areas of Europe following a period of isolation in Germany. “The sale is a major development for the Aberdeen-Angus breed in the European market place and, if the inaugural sale is successful, we hope it will become an annual event.”
Ms Eggleston said interest in Aberdeen-Angus throughout northern Europe was “massive” because of breed’s well-known easy keep and calving advantages, suitability for grazing and the growing consumer demand for quality beef in many former Eastern Bloc countries, including Russia. The heifers to be sold in Germany are all around one year old as it is a condition of registration in the German Herd Book that all heifers produce their first calf by the time they are 27 months of age.
More than half of the heifers (48) have come from the Fordel herd of David Ismail at Glenfarg, Perthshire, with the remainder consigned by J. and J. Campbell, Wedderlie, Berwickshire (16), John Coultrip, Faversham, Kent (10), Playfair Farms, Kelso, Roxburghshire (9), P. C. Stovold and Son, Godalming, Surrey (8) and Alan Lawson and Son, Newcastle on Tyne (3).
Mrs Eggleston will be attending the sale along with representatives from the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society, including chief executive, Ron McHattie, and several of the breeders who have exported cattle for the sale.
