In what turned out to be outstanding weather conditions, the quality of the cattle exhibited at the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate on July 10 and 11, proved to be just as impressive and Limousin cattle took a collection of Interbreed titles.
- Grahams Melody wins Reserve Supreme Interbreed Championship;
- Limousin quartets take top spot in senior and junior group competitions;
- Grahams Melody claims Female Limousin Breed Champion title and Overall Limousin Breed Champion;
- Foxhillfarm Jasper takes Male Limousin Breed Champion title;
- Foxhillfarm Natasha takes Limousin Junior Breed Champion accolade;
- Midnight Star wins Commercial Championship.
Breed champion
Grahams Melody scooped the Limousin Female Championship then the Overall Limousin Breed Championship on her way to take reserve spot in the Beef Individual Interbreed Championship later in the afternoon when she was put before judge Mrs. Vicky Smith from Crediton, Devon.
The two-year-old heifer from Robert and Jean Graham of Airthrey Kerse Dairy Farm, Bridge of Allen, Stirling, Melody is currently in calf to Goldies Jackpot.
No stranger to success, she came to Yorkshire on the back of a first place in her class and as a member of the winning Limousin Team of Four at the recent Royal Highland Show.
The heifer has also performed very well through 2017 as a youngster, winning her class at the Highland and standing as Reserve Champion, Reserve Female Champion and Junior Female Champion at the Scottish Limousin Grand Prix held at the Dumfries Show in August.
An embryo calf by Ampertaine Elgin, Melody is out of the highly successful Millbrook Gingerspice who made history at the 2014 Balmoral Show becoming the first animal to claim the show’s Individual Interbreed crown in three consecutive years.
She is full sister to Grahams Michael, also a winner on the show circuit in 2017, who sold at Carlisle in October 2017 for 20,000gns and to Grahams Malibu who made 25,000gns last December at the Red Ladies Sale.
She missed out narrowly on the champion spot, coming reserve to Sportsmans Maisie – a two-year-
Maisie’s sire Barnsford Ferny sold at Stirling in for 70,000gn in 2011.
Reserve Champion Limousin
Standing Reserve in the Limousin Championship was the April 2016 born heifer Stephick Mistique from Stephanie Dick, Stirling.
Mistique had stood second to Grahams Melody all the way through the judging, first in their class and then as Female Breed Champion. She is by the Rocky son Rathconville Eugene and out of Ronick Voici.
Male Championship
The Male Limousin Championship was awarded to Foxhillfarm Jasper owned by Messrs Jenkinson, Penrith, Cumbria.
January 2014 born bull bred by Mike and Melanie Alford of Cullompton, Devon, led the British Limousin Cattle Society sale at Carlisle in May 2015 when he was bought by Jenkinson Farms for 35,000gn.
Standing Reserve Male Limousin Champion in Harrogate was a January 2017 born bull from JM.&SP Cooper who run the Tomschoice pedigree herd at Hill Top farm, Dacre, Harrogate in the shape of Tomschoice Navarino.
Home bred, this smart bull that took a red rosette at the Northern Limousin Extravaganza on the opening day of Skipton Auction Mart’s annual two-day breed showcase in early May, is by Kaprico Eravelle and out of Tomschoice Filipa.
Junior Championship
The Junior Limousin Championship was a 1-2 for the Alford family with Foxhillfarm Natasha taking the top spot ahead of her stablemate Foxhillfarm Naomi.
Both young heifers are by Trueman Jagger; Natasha is out of out of Foxhillfarm Iola while Naomi is out of Foxhillfarm Isla.
As the morning of the second day of judging got underway, the crowd by the cattle ring basked in the sunshine and were treated to a spectacular display of Limousin breeding in the interbreed group competitions.
The Junior Group contest came first in a switch to the schedule to accommodate a visit to the cattle judging by HRH the Princess Royal.
An outstanding quartet from the Foxhillfarm team came into the ring to challenge for the Junior Group honours.
In tapping this team forward, judge Mr. Donald Biggar of Castle Douglas described it as an “absolutely tremendous foursome” he commented on their “balance, power and mobility”.
This is the second year in a row that the Junior Group Interbreed Championship has been won by a team made of up of cattle entirely from the Alford family.
Senior Championship
Senior team of four
In the Senior class, the Limousin entry consisted of the two heifers Stephick Mistique and Grahams Melody plus the four-year-old cow Brockhurst Jade from Doug Mash’s Brockhurst herd, based in Buckinghamshire, and the bull Woodroad James from Dougie McBeath and Sarah-Jane Jessop of Stirling.
After the royal guest had made her way up the long line of cattle in the ring, once again Judge Donald Biggar tapped the Limousin team forward.
Adding to his earlier comments he said “both teams were impossible to get past, they were the stand out winners”.
Commercial classes
In the always keenly contested Commercial Cattle section it was yet more success for the breed as Limousin’s swept the board.
Mark and Sarah Harryman of Pickering, North Yorkshire took the Overall Female title and then the Overall Champion rosette with their home-bred April 2017 born black-coated heifer Midnight Star on only her second outing.
Out of a Limousin cross cow, Midnight Star is sired by the Harryman’s stock bull the Ampertaine Elgin son Craigatoke Jackpot who they purchased for 15,000gns at Carlisle in May 2016.
Overall Reserve spot went to another April 2017 born Limousin cross heifer, this time in the shape of a red-coated beast from S&L Bett of Stirling.
This heifer had stood as Reserve to the Overall Champion in the female judging.
Taking the Champion Commercial Steer rosette was a 13-month old exhibit from Mike and Melanie Alford.
