Cheney rejoins presidential team of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society

Alan Cheney, the immediate past president of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society, has been co-opted back to the organisation’s presidential team following the resignation of David Ismail as president.

In a brief statement on its website the society said that it announced the resignation ‘with great regret’ and wished Mr Ismail well going forward. Ismail, who runs a substantial herd of the cattle near Perth, had been elected to the position in February of this year after serving on the breed society’s council for a dozen years.

Stepping in to help steer the ship, Cheney, who farms in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland will serve on the presidential team until the organisation’s Annual General Meeting In February.

While the society yesterday remained tight-lipped on the background to the resignation, reports were also circulating that the society’s chief executive, Barrie Turner who was appointed to the job in 2018 and has focused on the introduction of a verifiable DNA database for the breed was currently uncontactable. A spokesperson for the society confirmed that Mr Turner was not at his desk and was unavailable for comment.

The breed society has faced turmoil in its organising committee before, with former chief executive, Johnny Mackey, stepping down from his position in 2017 at the same time as several members of the board of directors resigned from the council, less than four months before the UK society was set to host the four-yearly World Angus Forum, a major celebration of the breed.