Vintage year at the Border Union Show

I AM told there are just over 200 agricultural shows held annually in Scotland. This week sees the peak in this seasonal activity which starts in May in Ayrshire and ends in September in those towns backed onto the hills.

These dates have been fixed to coincide with quiet periods in the type of farming carried out in the area, though it is possible for a late or early season to knock this plan awry.

However, on Saturday at the Border Union Show in Kelso, there was a certain relaxation in the farming population in that the main livestock sales are still a few weeks away.

Similarly, the arable men were not fretting that they needed to be getting home to the combine as the main grain harvest still has a week or two to go before the harvest madness sets in. There are a few fields of winter barley knocked down but, in harvest terms, that is no more than the starter to the main meal.

So although there was an odd farmer or two worrying that their second cut hay was not improving under the showery weather, most folk were able to concentrate on the competition in the livestock lines.

Some thought it was a brave move by the father-and-son team of Jimmy and William Thomson, Hownam Grange, Kelso to bring their Highland Show sheep interbreed champion along, but this sturdy gimmer looked every inch an overall sheep champion.

The judge, Andrew Elliot of Blackhaugh, Galashiels, decided she stood above the 1,000-plus entries in the sheep section.

His reserve champion came from the Blackface section with a shearling ram from Jim Logan, Pirntaton, Galashiels exhibited by Derek Redpath. The Auldhouseburn-bred shearling is shared by the breeder, Hugh Blackwood.

There were 15 sections in the sheep competition but the breed judge with the biggest task was Jeff Aitken, Clitheroe, who had more than 100 Texels to sort out before he picked his champion; a gimmer from Clark Farms, North Carngour, Lesmahagow.

The first ever award of the Dan Buglass Memorial trophy for the best young sheep handler would have caused a few around the packed ringside to think back, possibly looking out for a drift of pipe smoke. But for the 26 competitors, it was all about looking forward. The winner was Michael Walton, the trophy presented by the family.

The cattle competition was dominated by the UK national Aberdeen Angus show with more than 100 entries from all over the country. Judge Bob Lane, from the Penguin herd, Shropshire did not hang about in his judging and less than three hours later he chose an 18-month-old bull from Williiam and Karen McLaren, of Nertherton, Blackford as his champion.

After eight years away from the show ring, 2010 has been marked with a number of successes for the McLarens, including this one which brought with it a 1,000 cheque. However, the McLarens will be looking for considerably more cash when the bull, named Netherton Focus, goes into the sale ring in Stirling come October.

The reserve award in the Angus breed competition went to a 16-month-old heifer from Gordon Brooke of Malton. She was brought out by Richard and Carol Rettie for Brooke.

Not surprisingly, Fred Murray of East Horton, Wooler, the interbreed judge, took Focus as his overall champion.

The reserve interbreed was the Continental champion from Redpath Farms, Spylaw, Kelso with a four-year-old Limousin cow, Redpaths Bronwyn.

Reserve in the Continental breed competition was a two-year-old British Blue heifer from Mick Gamble and Sarah Rigg of Sharplaw.

Champion native breed was a 18-month-old Hereford heifer from Peter and Linda Whittaker of Stickle Heaton, Cornhill-on-Tweed, which came in ahead of a five-year-old Galloway cow from K Drysdale of Old Cambus, Cockburnspath.