One of the first herds of pure Charolais cattle in the country was started by North Norfolk farmer John Holman, who has died aged 85.

His encyclopaedic knowledge of the pedigree breed and its various bloodlines was known around the world.

With fellow Norfolk farmer John Barber, of Wymondham, they imported the first group of eight pure-bred heifers from France, which arrived on a snowy afternoon in January 1966 after months in quarantine. They had bought the cattle the previous May – two months after the ministry of agriculture gave permission for the main French beef breed to be imported.

One of the first 70 members of the British Charolais Cattle Society, he had joined on November 9, 1964, and his Aylsham herd was the 57th to be registered.

Always a modest man, Mr Holman, of The Belt, Aylsham, unusually was twice chairman of the society, in 1976 and then again in 1990. After his first successful term, he was elected president in 1977.

A council member for a quarter of a century, he was an active member of the society's management executive for 19 years. He was a key member of the society's official buying visits to France and helped to bring some of the best cattle to Britain.

He judged at every major national and regional show, including the Royal Highland and Royal Welsh, and successfully showed, including at the Royal Norfolk and East of England over the years.

He was just two years' old when his parents moved to The Belt, Aylsham, which then had a Friesian dairy herd, supplying one of three milk rounds in the town. In the early 1960s, he wanted a faster growing beef bull to use on his dairy herd and Charolais seemed to fit the bill. But importing cattle was then an expensive process, typically about £500 for transport and quarantine plus a purchase price of about £400.

Although the first Charolais bulls had been acquired by the then Milk Marketing Board in 1961, it took another five years for the first importation of 219 females.

Mr Holman's herd also attracted international attention when two American farmers inspected his herds, with the Aylsham and Gaunt prefixes in July 1968. Then, in 1971, he visited herds in America and over the years attended many of the world's Charolais breed conventions – his only holidays coincided with society shows and events.

At the first Anglian Charolais Breeders' show and sale at the East of England Agricultural Association's showground at Peterborough in 1972, he won a clutch of rosettes and awards for his herds.

A Canaries fan, he was a staunch supporter of the Aylsham Show for many years and also an exhibitor. He supplied straw bales for the rows of grandstand seating for spectators until health and safety rules banned the practice.

He made a singular contribution at the Royal Norfolk Show by promoting the Charolais, running the breed stand for more than 40 years. It was fitting when the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association announced the first life fellows in 2010, Mr Holman's 'outstanding contribution to the Royal Norfolk Show' was recognised by the president, Sir Jeremy Bagge.

Norfolk farmers' leader Ken Proctor, who founded his own Charolais herd in the early 1970s and was a former president of breed society, Holstein UK, said that he was 'an absolute gentleman and a great cattle man.'

He leaves a widow, Ann, two sons, Christopher, who lives in Shropshire and has two sons, and Robert, who has continued the farming business.

A service of thanksgiving will be held at St Michael and All Angels Church, Aylsham on Friday, April 5 at 2.30pm.

Michael Pollitt

n Farm & Country, pages 60-67