THE Royal Highland Show can boast many great spectacles, not the least of which is the grand parade in the main ring when all the champions and prize winners are paraded in front of a full house.
However, the ultimate professionals and seasoned observers in the livestock industry like nothing better than the inter-breed contests, which are held on the Saturday of the show, especially when teams of four from a dozen breeds of beef cattle come
under intense scrutiny. These cattle are the best-of-the best and lifting the trophy presented by United Auctions really does mean something special.
This year the award, to general acclaim, went to a team of Galloways – one of Scotland's oldest native breeds.
History, in fact, relates that until 1862 this breed with its heartland in Dumfries and Galloway, was regarded as little different from the Aberdeen Angus of the North-east.
Time has moved on and Galloway cattle have since enjoyed a great reputation, not just as animals that can survive under extreme climatic conditions, but also as producers of beef with real taste.
Many of the best bloodlines were wiped out in the foot-and-mouth disaster of 2001, but dedicated breeders have demonstrated a remarkable spirit of resilience and the recovery of fortunes is now complete.
Team event judge Peter Donger was clearly impressed: "The Galloway bull was fantastic, but the team was well balanced with totally functional cattle. That is vital for the beef industry."
The show proved to be something special for the Galloway breed with individual entries taking the top individual awards in both the native and overall sections as well as the pairs classifications. This has never been achieved before, and it may never be repeated again.
Down in the dairy ring an outstanding team of four Holstein females got the nod ahead of the Ayrshire quartet. While in the inter-breed sheep contest a Charollais ram from the Ingram family, based near Inverurie, held sway ahead of a Suffolk ewe from Barclay Mair of Turriff.
Just about the last competitive class saw a duo of Hampshire Downs adjudged as the best combination in the sheep section.
