Obituary: Ralph Cadzow; rugby enthusiast and farmer who helped to create the Luing breed of beef cattle

Ralph Cadzow was one of three brothers who made a remarkable contribution to livestock farming by breeding the first new breed of British cattle for more than a century. Ratified by parliament in 1965, the Luing breed, developed on the island of the same name off the west coast of Scotland, can now be found in more than 100 registered UK herds and has been exported to several rugged parts of the world including New Zealand and Canada.

As well as recognition among their peers by extensive use in Britain of Luing cattle for cross-breeding as well as pure-breeding, the brothers’ efforts were recognised with a Massey Ferguson World award for services to agriculture in 1972.

That was followed by the Sir William Young award in 2000, presented by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland for outstanding service to livestock breeding.

The citation said that the brothers had recognised a gap in the beef industry, noting: “Through their methodical and rigorous approach to the science of breeding beef cattle for a specific purpose, combined with their wide knowledge of the structure of the livestock industry and practical farming, they developed a new breed to improve production in the cold and wet regions of the world.”

It went on: “Shane, Denis and Ralph Cadzow originated a new breed by vigorous objectivity and realism. Theirs was a practical and outstanding contribution to livestock farming which has earned them a prominent place among the major improvers in agriculture throughout the world.”

Ralph also had a sister, Rosemary. Educated at Loretto, he left school in 1940 to take charge of four farms in West and East Lothian – Kilpunt, Dankerhill, East Mains and Trabroon – while his brothers were serving in the forces.

That early baptism of work and responsibility stood him in good stead later and also confirmed a love of breeding, buying, feeding and selling cattle. He built on that in 1946 when he travelled to the United States and Canada with a shipment of pedigree cattle and studied beef farming there. He also travelled to Argentina and Australia, advising on cattle breeding and showing.

In 1947 he bought the southern half of the island of Luing, and later the brothers combined to buy the other half to provide an ideally isolated base for a planned breeding programme using cross-bred bulls that had to be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. The rest of that story is livestock history.

In 1952 Ralph took the tenancy of Inland Pastures near Berwick-on-Tweed where he farmed successfully until his son Simon took over a few years ago.

His outside interests were the traditional farming pursuits of shooting, fishing, rugby and curling. He played second row for Edinburgh Wanderers, toured with Richmond and Birkenhead Park, played for Northern and represented Edinburgh District and Northumberland County in the same year.

He was also selected for a Scottish trial and, while in Argentina, played for Buenos Aires. The highlight of his rugby career was playing for North East Counties versus the All Blacks in 1954, a game narrowly lost 9-6.

Keen to help develop the game at local level, he was instrumental in the formation of Berwick Rugby Club and the acquisition of their ground at Scremerston, near his farm.

Working with other enthusiasts – Danny Whiteford, Lambert and Bill Carmichael, Tom Jobling, Jim Turner, Dr Jimmy Mitchell, Ian Simpson, Jim Smail, Henry and Geoff McCreath, Peter Close and Ian McCreath among them – the Berwick club was formed in 1968, plays in the Scottish leagues and has provided a starting point for several top-class careers.

Ralph was president 1968-70 and honorary English president 1970-76, Berwick, befitting its unique Border status, having both an honorary English and Scottish president in office.

A keen shot, he was an original member of the Abbey St Bathans syndicate, but in later life he concentrated more on fishing, with casting for brown trout in hill lochans a passion, usually accompanied by his Border terriers Snuff and Twig.

A favourite location was Garloch, Wester Ross, but several times in recent years he switched to Hamnavay on Lewis with his sons Ian and Simon, a special bonding for all three.

He met his wife Margaret at her birthday party in December, 1954.

They married in 1956, Ian was born in 1958 and Simon in 1960. More recently he took an active interest in his five grandchildren: Alex, Ralph, Laura, Flora and Teal.

Margaret was also a keen and successful curler, including playing in the world championships for Scotland in Norway, after twice defeating cancer.

Ralph was always an enthusiastic supporter; as Simon said, jokingly, at the funeral service, if Ralph hadn’t been a keen curler himself the couple might not have seen so much of each other over 56 years of happily married life.

Ralph Cadzow is survived by his wife and two sons.