Cattle showing duo have eyes on prize

Rebecca and Blair hope to add Royal Highland commercial award to their winners’ collection

A pair of well-known faces on the agricultural show circuit are preparing to take a team of 10 commercial cattle to the Royal Highland Show next week.

Blair Duffton and Rebecca Stuart, who have been showing cattle together since 2012, are no strangers to success having won several interbreed and overall champion of championship prizes at shows across Scotland, England and Wales.

In 2015 they stormed the north-east show circuit with a Limousin cross heifer named Lady Moo Moo, followed by another Limousin cross heifer named You Beauty in 2016, and Charolais cross heifer Gold Rush in 2017.

The duo are hoping to add the Royal Highland commercial cattle championship to their prize tally next week, when they bring a team of three bullocks and seven heifers to Ingliston.

Mr Duffton, who lives in Huntly and works as a livestock buyer for Backmuir Livestock Ltd, says the Highland championship is the one prize he is yet to win.

He says showing cattle is his hobby and he enjoys nothing better than getting a beast ready for a show and seeing how it fares against its competitors.

Ms Stuart, who hails from Murrial Farm near Insch and works as a trainee ruminant nutritionist at East Coast Viners, says her favourite part of the whole process is getting cattle ready for the show ring.

She says shows offer the chance to meet new people and there is always a buzz about the show ring.

Mr Duffton says he has high hopes for all of the cattle in the show team, however, favourites include a “really showy” heifer named Baby Jane.

A Limousin cross heifer, she was bought from the Robertsons at Newton of Logierait, Pitlochry, for £2,000 at last year’s Thainstone Spectacular.

Another favourite is a Limousin cross heifer named Shaniqua, which despite being rejected by her three previous owners, was purchased by the duo for £1,500.

Among the line-up of bullocks, a Limousin cross named Buster is expected to perform well this season.

Meanwhile, Mr Duffton says a Charolais cross heifer named Gold Dust, which was purchased in Ireland for 2,000 euros, is very similar to last year’s show topper Gold Rush.

Mr Duffton and Ms Stuart say their success is down to the hard work of a dedicated show team – which includes Debbie Watt, Steven Smith and Deborah Atkinson – and hours of preparation.

“The first thing is to buy the beast; you see something you like and you buy it,” said Mr Duffton.

“It has to be a classy, showy animal with a good top on it and it has to be good on its four legs. It needs to walk like a princess – a show beast should walk with its head up.