West Yorkshire farmer takes the helm as new president of Beef Shorthorn Society

A breeder with a 15-year association with the breed and the Society, Mr Riley has run a beef and sheep hill farm in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire for more than 30 years.

Tim also brings wider experience in agricultural, food and environmental policy and governance. He is on the board of the Food Standards Agency and of DEFRA’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate. A background in genetics has informed the Society’s breed development work and nationally, the UK’s Farm Animal Genetic Resources Advisory

Committee.

The new president said he was honoured to take on the role as Society lead and hoped to be able to use both his experience and expertise to help the Society position the Beef Shorthorn as the preferred choice for beef farming going forward.

He said: “It is important that we, as breeders, continue to develop the Beef Shorthorn as the best and most adaptable choice for modern beef farming.

“My own experience in switching to the Beef Shorthorn has demonstrated what the breed can offer and I am excited to continue helping breeders capitalise on the huge potential offered by the breed as low input replacement cows and as quality beef for the consumer.

“Beef Shorthorns have the genetics for adaptability to different climates, landscapes, and systems. This has become even more important with economic and climate challenges and with agricultural policy favouring sustainable and regenerative farming.”

Meanwhile, taking on the vice-president’s position is Ross-shire breeder John Scott of the Fearn herd in the Scottish Highlands.

Having bred Shorthorns for more than 25 years, alongside a commercial suckler herd and both pedigree and commercial sheep flocks and an arable enterprise, he brings practical experience to the role, as well as a passion for breed promotion and development.

An early developer of on-farm sales for both sheep and cattle breeding stock, Mr Scott uses all facets of modern technology and communications to promote his business.

They both look forward to meeting Society members at events in the coming

months and to helping members maximise the appeal of Beef Shorthorns as the breed moves forward in to its next 200 years, having celebrated its bicentenary in 2022.

The Shorthorn breed of cattle, which we know today, has evolved over the last two centuries from Teeswater and Durham cattle found originally in the North East of England.

The breed was used in the early part of the 20th Century primarily as a dual-purpose breed but specialised for beef and milk. Since that time the Beef Shorthorns have been developed as a separate breed. The importance of the Shorthorn breed in the development of other cattle breeds is enormous and Shorthorn genetics have been used worldwide in the development of over 40 different breeds.