European Angus Forum 2024 in Germany
The European Angus Forum is the event for Angus breeders and enthusiasts from all over Europe. In 1996, four European Angus breeders met in Bavaria and decided to meet regularly in a different country to exchange ideas and promote Angus breeding. This idea has proved successful to this day.
And so 130 breeders from all over Europe and the world met in Germany from 10 to 17 July for the European Angus Forum 2024.
The tour, organised by the Federal Association of German Angus Breeders, began at Frankfurt Airport and took the guests on two buses through Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg, followed by a forum in Potsdam. The fact that so many guests accepted our invitation shows the keen interest in German Angus breeding.
On the first day, we travelled in two coaches to PTR Bischoff GmbH in Neukirchen.
The herd of around 120 animals was built up with the help of international genetics and targeted purchases.
built up. With a marvellous view, herd manager Johannes Bock explained his breeding goal to the guests in the herds and showed cattle with excellent offspring at foot. The animals are looked after with the help of residents of the care and therapy centre.
therapy centre. Daily contact with the animals has positive effects for both sides. The animals get used to being handled and it helps the little ones to take responsibility and structure their day. After lunch in the lovingly prepared stables with homemade currywurst and local specialities, the buses continued on to the Sippel family farm in Korbach.
The Sippel family's functional, mostly red Angus cattle are not only impressive at animal shows. The animals from the farm and other exhibited animals from the Flamme, Born, Meuser and Emde farms were presented to the specialised public in the best possible way. The breeding animals are marketed nationally and internationally via the breeding association. The fattening animals are marketed via a producer organisation and a farm butchery. The guests were able to see the quality for themselves on the festive evening, as the Sippels had slaughtered a cow especially for the occasion. The evening was accompanied by music from the Goddelsheim Master Choir under the direction of Holger Born and later by a live band.
The next morning, the tour group was invited to the Weidemann company in Korbach.
After a tour of the factory, there was a short presentation of the yard loaders, wheel loaders and telehandlers produced in Korbach and the history of the company, followed by a delicious buffet.
In the afternoon, the group travelled on to Lower Saxony. The group first visited the
the Oelkers family's bull fattening barn. Here, the international audience was able to get an idea of the outstanding fattening ability and quality of Angus cattle in Germany. Not only the bulls themselves, but also the cleanliness of the bulls in the straw stables was impressive. It was nice to see that the next generation is already helping on the farm and that the bull fattening barn is also being expanded. The Bähre family had prepared a cosy coffee table with the support of the countrywomen. The guests were able to spend time chatting with breeders and visitors in a pleasant atmosphere with delicious cakes, bread rolls and beer from their own brewery. After refreshments, the coaches took them to the pastures of the Riekenberg and Oelkers farms in the moor. Although the weather of the previous days led to wet pastures, the quality of the animals was nevertheless recognised by the expert audience. Heinz-Wilhelm Riekenberg presented an excellent selection of cows with calves from his herd of 60 animals. In breeding, he favours embryo transfer and has a strict breeding management system. In the breeding season from mid-December, artificial insemination is initially used before stud bulls are used. Calving then takes place from the end of September to November.
On Saturday morning, the Tarmstedt exhibition was on the programme, after a welcome reception
After a welcome reception by the Managing Director of the trade fair and Clemens Braschos from Masterrind, the guests were able to follow the judging process.
Several strong groups of cattle and cows with calves impressed the foreign guests.
Lower Saxony was able to present itself with a well-presented and excellently organised show. Over 40 Angus animals presented themselves to the judge's eye, one of them, the
Angus bull ‘Idol von der Eselsmühle’ from the Kagelmann/Ude breeding community was crowned ‘Mister Tarmstedt’.
He and the winning cow ‘AA Ricarda’ from Thorsten Ahlers were also presented with prizes of honour by the Argentinian delegation. In the young cattle category, ‘WDA Bella Donn’ came out on top.
As Hamburg is not far from Tarmstedt, it was an obvious choice to visit Hamburg with our guests. After a hearty snack with fried potatoes as a side dish, some of them went to the Reeperbahn. Almost everyone was back on the bus on time the next morning.
On the sunny Sunday morning, the programme included a tour of the harbour followed by a tour of the city. In the afternoon, we were guests at Güritzer Agrar GmbH. After a great presentation by farm manager Stephan Nagel, he proudly showed us his breeding and production herds, which are mainly red in colour. 770 suckler cows are kept on the farm and prove themselves under the operational conditions. Some of the herds and their offspring stood on the farm to give the visitors a very good overview. This was followed by short presentations on the farm and two of the farm's partners: Rinderallianz and Ludwigsluster Fleischwaren GmbH. Afterwards, entrecôte could be savoured. And it wasn't just the view of the plate that left nothing to be desired. The presentation of the herd bulls was also impressive. There were several excellent, mostly red, old bulls on display, which impressed the audience. The Clausen farm was also represented with several bulls. The breeding farm Kurt Clausen from Mittelangeln has been a strong supporter of the farm's breeding programme for many years.
Monday morning began with a princely breakfast at the ‘Schloss-Fleesensee’ hotel, from where it was only a few minutes to the Karow estate.
There, the farm manager Christian Helmes welcomed us with a presentation of the
herd bulls and his cow herds. With 238 herdbook cows, Gut Karow is one of the largest Angus breeding farms in Germany. A total of 540 cattle are kept and the farm markets a large number of breeding cattle and breeding bulls. The farm's ten stud bulls were also shown. The buses then travelled to several pastures with very homogeneous groups of cows before a snack was served at the estate under the lime trees. In the evening, we travelled to Großderschau (Brandenburg) to the Hilgert farm. Red and black herds were presented there, which impressed with their functionality. The guests were able to see the quality of the meat for themselves at the barbecue in the evening.
Barbecue masters impressively prepared smoked beef ribs, entrecôte, rump and many other delicacies from their own Angus cattle, before the evening drew to a cheerful close with a beer or two.
On the last day, the forum took the form of a lecture event. In the morning, Dr Wolfgang Ruten (vit), Dr Sabine Schmidt (Rinderallianz) and Thore Kühl (BDAH) reported on German Angus breeding and breeding value assessment, before the forum for delegates took place in the afternoon. During this time, the guests visited Berlin before they all travelled home the next day and, after a stopover with the Heinz family in Wehrda (Hesse), were bid farewell.
On behalf of the Bundesverband Deutscher Angus-Halter e.V. (BDAH), I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed to the success of this forum!
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