Junior and Overall Champion Reserve
Spirits were high to be back in Borderway with a near familiar bull sale experience, being able to get back into the show ring whilst still meeting Covid-19 restrictions.
Across the board, bulls averaged £8302.78 an increase of over £1,950 on 2019, with a clearance rate of 84%. 19 of the top-class bulls on offer make five figures, five of these exceeding 20,000gns.
Topping the trade at 50,000gns was Everpark Partylight from first-time vendors, J & T Waring from Everingham, York. After being placed first in his class by judge Archie Macgregor of the Allanfauld herd and then crowned Intermediate Champion, Partylight shone brightly for many spectators around the ring. This September-2019 born embryo calf is a son of 38,000gns Ampertaine Foreman and the greatly admired Millington Highlight, who was purchased by the herd at the Millington dispersal sale for 50,000gns with a calf at foot. Partylight displays myostatin of F94L and Q204X and a Beef Va
Background? It stems from exactly the same as most men and woman in farming today . I was born into it. My father, John, was a mountain farmer in the townland of Meencraig, in the north of Ireland, where I grew up with my siblings and I worked the farm after school. My father in those days ran a mixture of cattle and sheep and although rearing a large family of 16, I was the only one to follow him into farming. I worked alongside him until I was offered a job at a local farm with B Mullan and Sons, in 1977, before I became a full time self-employed freelancer in 1995 contracted to bring out show-winning cattle.
Online entries close for the Scottish Championships on May 7. Bread, dairy, and handcrafts producers from across Scotland have been invited to apply for the 2021 Scottish Championships to be held as part of this summer s Royal Highland Showcase. The showcase, the first of its kind in the UK, will bring together the best in food, farming and rural life in glorious technicolour beamed into homes, sheds, fields and tractors around the globe using the latest technology, the best quality product and some ‘well kent’ faces fronting the online event, which has been made possible by a £750,000 grant from the Scottish Government.
Have you always been keen on showing? I’ve not always had horse. I first got into horses when I was 10 years old, but my mum has had horses since she was young so it is safe to say they are in my blood. What got you started in the show ring? I started in Clydesdale showing when I was 12 with my main horse Dillars Rascal. I had no idea what I was doing when I first started showing Clydesdales as I only had small ponies and horses for jumping. We bought our first Clydesdale Dillars Rascal when he was a yearling back in 2016. Rascal and I have grown up together and he is my go to horse for showing. I’ve showed him in many in-hand and young handler competitions including the 2019 Royal Highland Show were we placed 3rd!