Young Breeders Gathering - 2009

The Ayrshire Cattle Society’s Young Members Gathering was hosted this year by the Wigtownshire Club.

Young Members from all over the UK & Ireland took part in a combination of events most of them counting towards the Hugh Stevenson Memorial Competition. They started of with a visit to view the Colfin herd of the McWilliams family where they were all were impressed by the many good daughters of Bankend Brown Bomber which was particularly pleasing as Isobel Neil and her daughter Vicki Stevenson had managed to find time to join us for the day and to witness some of the competitions that counted towards the trophy that they had presented in Hugh’s memory. (left: some young members taking part in one of the competitons)

We then had a fascinating tour around the Galloway Cheese Company’s Stranraer Creamery kindly arranged by Willie Stevenson, and were then treated to lunch. In the afternoon we had a visit to the Stevenson family’s herd at Kirminnoch where members took part in a Bull Mating Competition followed by a master class in Stock Demonstration carried out on the breed’s first EX96 cow, Stevenson’s Marcia 2nd and although she had just calved twins she was looking every one of those 96 points. We then had to judge a class of six heifers in milk with Andrew Dunlop acting as master judge.

After some very welcome refreshments we returned to the hotel where some of the Wigtownshire club’s best curlers taught us all how to curl. After dinner we had a Curling competition which was very much enjoyed by all

Next day was devoted to Showmanship and Cattle Dressing courtesy of the Watson family at High Mark who had went to a great deal of trouble to ensure we had enough calves trained for all the Young members to take part. They were helped with calves from the Davidsons, the Howies and the Clarks. Our judge for the day was George Borland jun. who was an excellent choice and was a great encouragement to all the beginners. Showmanship was in the morning and as usual standards were high.

After an excellent lunch provided by the Watsons, it was time for the Clipping competition. While the more experienced clippers were competing some of the younger members tried their hand at clipping and how keen they were to the point of bursting into tears when they had to stop. After the presentation to the winners, we all took the opportunity to view the herd which is in the process of changing from Holstein to Ayrshires and it was remarkable how much has been achieved in such a short space of time.

Back at the hotel, we were joined for dinner by our host families and members of the Wigtownshire Club, and those who were inclined, disco danced the night away.

Next morning everyone was remarkably bright as we joined the bus for the short distance to Garthland for our final competition i.e. Stockjudging and Reason Giving, courtesy of the McColm family. Our judge was Alan Clark of the Fineview herd and he had his work cut out sorting out two quality classes of big powerful dairy cows. Afterwards we had the chance to view the high yielders before we were treated to an excellent lunch.

We are once again very much indebted to the Wigtownshire Club and its members for allowing us to hold our Young Members Gathering in Stranraer, and for their support both financially and in kind which contributed so much to the success of the event. We very much appreciate their hard work and on behalf of all our young members, can I say thank you very much.

Results are as follows:

Bull Mating Competition

  1. Peter Drummond 58
  2. James Mattison 57
  3. Philip Mattison 56

Showmanship - Seniors 20years and over

  1. Colin Davidson
  2. David Christophers
  3. Philip Mattison

Intermediate 15 years to 19 years

  1. Louise Fleming
  2. Kevin Lawrie
  3. Gillian Rankin

Juniors Under 15 years

  1. Jamie Telfer
  2. James Fullerton
  3. Calum Walker

Clipping

  1. James Lawrie
  2. Colin Davidson
  3. Peter Drummond

Handlers

  1. Louise Fleming
  2. David Christophers
  3. Matthew Needham

Stock Judging Teams Darland Trophy

  1. Peter Drummond & Colin Davidson (pictured above)
  2. Katie Davidson & Matthew Service
  3. David Christophers & Samantha Ely

Coronation Cup – Individual Stockjudging

  1. Peter Drummond
  2. David Christophers
  3. Matthew Needham