Thursday 21st May saw our livestock team head to the York Auction Centre for the 2015 Beef Expo, an internationally recognised annual showcase organised by the National Beef Association, which gathers together hundreds of beef farmers, tradespeople and industry representatives for an event which celebrates and promotes good practice within the British beef sector.

This was the first time that the event had been held in York, and it was only fitting to see it held at the York Auction Centre, a historic livestock venue which has been among Yorkshire's leading trading markets since 1871.

Around 7000 people attended the event in total, including representatives from EBLEX, Meadow Quality and several of the breed societies Dovecote Park are closely linked to.

We were delighted to see a great many of our producers in attendance, and were glad to be able to offer them a space to relax after exploring the stands and catch up with one another and the livestock team members.

As ever, the quality of livestock at the event was extremely high, with the Beef Expo one of the few events where patrons are able to see such a wide variety of native UK beef breeds.
  
We were pleased to see our own producers represented, with the finished Aberdeen Angus cattle on display from the farm of Jonathan Seels, one of our local producers who has supplied us since 2002 and is one of the producers on our celebrated dry age scheme, whilst the cows and calves shown at the Angus stand were supplied by Geoff Lawn, from Grassington, Skipton, who has supplied us since 2000, and who won the champion prize at our 2014 Carcase Competition.

We were also delighted to see the Hereford Cattle Society given the recognition of ‘Highly Commended’, and the South Devons Society awarded the prize of ‘Best Small Breed Society Stand’ by the judging panel. Of course the highlight of the day for many of the farmers in attendance was the National Spring Spectacular Show – judged this year by breeders Wilson Peters and Craig Robertson – who awarded the Supreme Champion prize to Sooty, a Welsh bred Limousin cross heifer.

Alongside the many trade stands, this year’s Beef Expo offered a wide variety of informative talks and seminars. Progression in technology was a key theme of this year’s event with video grading, EID, foot trimming and pneumonia prevention amongst the topics addressed. The day also included butchery demonstrations from Leeds City College and a cooking demonstration from Yorkshire based celebrity chef Steph Moon. 

As a company which celebrates the best in British beef, and native cattle breeds, we are proud to have taken part in such a successful event, and would like to extend our gratitude to those who took the time to come and see us!