Crieff stockmen swept the boards at Scotland’s national fatstock show, taking home supreme championships in both the cattle and sheep sections.
Winning the Lanark LiveScot beef section for the fifth time in eight years, Wilson Peters, of Monzie, Crieff, took the award for Mateus Rosie, a 608kg home-bred 20-month-old Limousin cross heifer which went on to sell for the day’s top price of £10.86/kg or £6,600.
Mr Peters also picked up the top “housewife’s choice” prize for Coilavoulin Elle, an April 2019-born Limousin cross heifer bred by Willie Stevenson, Coilavoulin, Pitlochry. She sold for 748ppk or £4,100.
Over in the sheep ring, John Guthrie, Cuiltburn, Crieff, won the live championship with a pair of 92kg Beltex cross home-bred lambs from his 350-ewe flock, which sold for £350 per head to local butchers David Comrie and Son. He also won the reserve championship with 84kg Beltex crosses, which made £310 per head, selling to Mathieson Butchers, Edinburgh.
It was Mr Guthrie’s first live sheep championship at LiveScot, although he has won the carcase competition twice before.
Back in the beef line-up, the reserve overall championship went to Red Hot Ruubu, a Limousin cross from Stirling-based Stewart and Lynsey Bett. Their 20-month-old heifer, weighing in at 702kg, later sold for 427ppk or £3,000.
Top steer was The Black, a home-bred two-year-old 676kg pure Aberdeen-Angus, from George McFadzean, Woodhead of Mailer, Perth, which made 253ppk or £1,710.
A pair of Blackfaces weighing a combined 78kg won the overall hill championship for the Firm of Shawhead, Newmains Home Farm, Douglas. They went on to make £136 per head.
Bruce Lang, Uplands, Cupar, won the reserve hill championship with a pair of North Country Cheviots weighing a combined 107kg. They sold at 280ppk or £150 per head, to the judge, prime lamb buyer Robert Lawson, of Lanark.
Scottish National Fatstock Club chairman David McKerrow described the event, which went ahead without spectators and with animals shown in pens, a “tremendous success”.
He said: “Despite the difficult circumstances, the cattle and sheep producers were eager to have an event to showcase and sell their livestock, and the butchers and sponsors were keen to support us.
“We’re delighted with the quality of the stock on show and the success of the sale, which saw some first-time buyers at the event.”
