Sad News - Stewart Nellist

With great sadness Signet would like to share the news with Signet clients that Stewart Nellist, a key member of Signet’s ultrasound scanning team for nearly a decade, passed away on Friday 7^th February after a period of ill health.

Stewart initially joined MLC and worked with the carcase classification team for many years. After a career break later in life, I had the pleasure of recruiting Stewart to join Signet’s ultrasound scanning team in 2010, where his knowledge of sheep and beef carcase classification was an obvious asset to the team – as well as his experience working with farmers.

Over the last 10 years, Stewart has been the face of Signet throughout the South West, parts of the Midlands and South Wales; with an annual scanning season that started with the September born Poll Dorset lambs and progressed through to the autumn and the scanning of Welsh Mountain and Beulah hill lambs in Wales. Stewart was also a familiar face to beef breeders, supporting the beef feed efficiency project and scanning cattle for Signet clients, as well as supporting the Limousin Cattle Society with the bull sale inspections in Brecon for many years.

Stewart was one of the most conscientious and dedicated members of staff that I have had the pleasure to work with, attributes valued and respected by Signet clients. Stewart was part of a Signet team that measure over 40,000 lambs each year. His knowledge and experience has been invaluable over the years, working closely with his friends and colleagues Andrew Steele and Stuart Friswell offering ideas and advice to take the service forward and implement new AHDB funded research.

Each year he led many of the scanning demonstrations at technical events, including the NSA Sheep event at Malvern and it will be at this event during the summer that many of his colleagues will miss his involvement; politely and patiently extolling the virtues of Signet’s work to sheep producers from far and wide.