Herd History
The WEDDERLIE herd was established by Major W.A.Baird in 1913 with the purchase
of 4 heifers and a bull, Royalson. One of
these heifers, Erin Eglantine A was a triplet and at 25
months of age produced their first registered bull,
appropriately named Edgar of Wedderlie. In
the same herd book, the entries read: Evelyn of
Wedderlie calved Jan.14, 1914, and
Princess Royal of Wedderlie calved Feb.24,
1914, both by Royalson.
Now
owned by Jenny Campbell, the herd has expanded to 200
cows and is currently one of the largest in the UK.
The TUI herd was established by John in 1976
with the importation of 4 heifers from his Fathers
PIKIHUIA herd in New Zealand but for paperwork
simplicity, it was merged with Wedderlie under the
Wedderlie prefix in January 2000.
Our daughter, Wanda, started her own herd in 1996 using the prefix Ellin. Ellin Erroneous is a successful stock bull at Rosemead.
Farm and House History
The historic house of Wedderlie was originally
a 'fortalice' or 'keep' in 1258 and converted to a mansion house
in 1684 by the Edgar family who lived here from 1327 to
1733. Sir Richard Edgar was a witness at the second
marriage of Robert the Bruce and three of the Edgar's were
Members of Parliament for Berwickshire, Edinburgh and
Haddington. They 'fell on hard times' and were forced to
leave Wedderlie, defacing the family crest as they left in
darkness. It was later owned by Lord Blantyre and tenanted
by the Clay family, one of whom, John Clay Jnr was involved in
the foundation of the Chicago Stock Yards. The farm
of Wedderlie and the herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle were bought by
Captain Tom Elliot from Sir David Baird in 1942 and on his death
in 1951, they passed to his daughter, Jenny Campbell.
