IF the British Limousin Cattle Society wants to regain credibility on the world cattle stage, it must come clean about the actualities surrounding Ballinloan Jaegerbomb and any other cattle with false figures and pedigrees.

That is the viewpoint of interested parties and those who have lost out financially since the day the bull was de-registered last summer, followed by a spate of other cattle losing their passports. Add to that continued claims of false pedigrees, erroneous birth dates and inaccurate figures and the society is under pressure to stop covering up the situation and tell its members the truth.

However, the society's chairman, Michael Cursiter, has asked for patience, pointing out that a farmer had been charged with fraud and that in many ways the finer details of what actually happened were sub-judice and that both he and the society were legally bound not to discuss the matter. "The truth will, hopefully, come out in court," he said, this week.

He insisted that there was 'no cover up'. "We are inspecting a lot more herds than we were, but thinking and proving false birth dates and weights are two completely different things."

However, there remains grassy roots anger. "I believe there is still cheating going on within the society and with certain breeders," alleged a disgusted Michael Fieldson, who owns the Fieldsons herd.

"I don't mind being beaten in the show or the sale ring when the bulls are genuinely better than mine, but when they are in the same age class as mine, stand five or six inches taller, have two broad teeth and a crest in their neck, it is blatantly obvious they are somewhat older even though they are supposed to be the same age," he said.

Mr Fieldson admitted, though, that the number of bulls with sceptical birth dates being paraded was less than it was a year ago. "Those within the society and breeders who have caused these issues should be punished for what they have done and they should be publicly named and shamed," he said.

Such has been the loss of earnings from 'being honest and selling bulls with accurate birth dates', combined with buying numerous straws of semen from Jaegerbomb, and Mr Fieldson feared for the future of his family-run farm.

He bought Jaegerbomb semen just after the February sale at Carlisle, when the first progeny was sold. "As you can imagine this is a great worry to ourselves and our business, but when the BLCS had rubber stamped Jaegerbomb’s pedigree as correct and eligible to be used for AI back in March, 2018, we felt that we could use him with confidence on our best pedigree cows.

"We feel that the British Limousin Cattle Society and the breeder are wholly responsible for this situation. It is my belief that Jaegerbomb's pedigree was created by the society to try and alleviate claims against them and the breeder, which has seriously back-fired, leaving innocent breeders in a financial mess."

David Burns, who owns the Teviothead herd, in Leicestershire, was equally adamant that the BLCS had to come clean. "It is not a level playing field breeding Limousin cattle as there are still far too many people cheating the system by providing false weights and growth rates which means the EBVs are not believable. I had hoped the problem would have sorted itself out by now and while it is slightly better, it is still going on."