Scottish raiders ride back with beef spoils on first foray to Wales
A15-STRONG party from Scotland returned home in triumph after their first visit to the Royal Welsh Winter Fair.
The group cheered on Welsh-bred steer Tip Top to the championship sash in this week’s supreme showdown in Builth Wells.
The 20-month-old bullock is owned by Aberdeenshire livestock dealer Blair Duffton, who was busy winning a Christmas show title in Aberdeen moments before Tip Top won at Llanelwedd.
In his absence, the Limousin x steer was shown by friends on a busman’s holiday to Wales.
Sired by Powerhouse Elite and out of a Charolais x cow, Tip Top was bred by Colin Phillips and bought at this year’s Brecon Show Potentials sale for £2,200.
As the Aberdeen sale requires cattle that are Scottish Farm Assured, Mr Duffton decided to show and sell Tip Top.
“He thought it made sense for the steer to come home to Wales,” said friend Stuart Begg.
“Blair buys and sells thousands of animals across Scotland but keeps a few cattle at home to show as a hobby.”
Tip Top, weighing 640kg, later sold at auction for £4,000, with the Baby Beef champion going for the same price.
Championship judges Bryn Lloyd, from Corwen, and Ireland’s Pearse McNamee called in the reserve steer but went with the leading female as their reserve supreme champion.
This was French Connection, a March 2015-born Limousin x Blue heifer from Phil and Sharon Sellers, Lincoln.
Regular winners on the UK fatstock circuit, the Welsh winter fair has now yielded no fewer than four reserve titles for the husband-and-wife team, their sole championship coming in 2009 with the steer Dick Turpin.
The pair were runners-up here last year and were again forced to settle for second place with an animal that caught their eye at Ashby De La Zouch Show.
Sharon was judging the beef cattle there and she placed French Connection second in its class against a bigger heifer.
“Later Phil sneaked in and agreed a price with the breeder, Frank Paige,” she said. “He didn’t tell me until the end of the day.”
The sellers had another near-miss in the steer section, fielding the reserve champion The Gangster.
This April 2015-born Charolais x bullock was bred by Powys-based PA Jarman.
Reserve heifer was Annie Power, a Limousin x Blue 15-month-old owned by Dermot Small, County Down, and bred by Andrew Proctor.
Winning the Baby Beef title was a 10-month-old Limousin x heifer bred and shown by Dai Brute, Brecon.
This was Brutus Cheeky Girl, who edged out Queen B in her class and saw the latter cling on to her coattails all the way to the championship.
Queen B, as the eventual reserve title winner, was bred and shown by Welshpool’s Bowen & Bowen.
Around 18,000 visitors arrived at the showground on Monday, with organisers still counting up the second-day gate in the hope it will top