Limousin sired animals dominate and win 10 championship titles Champion animal sells for £10,000
The East of England Winter Stock Festival, Peterborough, which this year hosted the Royal Smithfield Club’s championships, proved to be a prolific prize winning hunting ground for Limousin sired stock.
Animals sired by Limousin bulls picked up the Overall Championship, the Baby Beef Championship and Reserve, the Continental Purebred Championship, Champion Purebred, the Pedigree Steer Championship, the Pedigree Heifer Championship, the Continental Crossbred Heifer Championship and the Continental Crossbred Steer Championship.
To top it all the Overall Champion then collected the King’s Cup presented by the Royal Smithfield Club for the best beast bred by exhibitor whilst three purebred Limousin steers went on to collect the prestigious Duke of Norfolk Trophy presented by the Royal Smithfield Club for the best group of three purebred animals.
Leading the way for the breed was the overall prime cattle champion, the 616kg heifer Tinkler Maidgie from Hugh and Lynn Dunlop, Ochiltree, Ayrshire.
No strangers to polishing the Smithfield silverware, the Dunlops were winning their fourth overall Smithfield title and their first East of England Winter Stock Festival title on their debut at the event.
Tinkler Maidgie is a daughter of the Dunlops’ pedigree Limousin stock bull Silex and is out a Limousin cross cow. This one was a first prize winner in the Baby Beef section of last year’s Smithfield event. She also won a red ticket at this year’s Ayr Show and the Royal Highland Show and earned the couple the Royal Smithfield Club’s King’s Cup (the third time they have won this award) for the best homebred beast too. Tinkler Maidgie went on to sell in the event’s auction sale for £10,000 (£16.23/kg) to the judge Liz Vance, Bridgehouse Farm, Whithorn, Newton Stewart.
Reserve for the King’s Cup was the Leighton Buzzard-based Kevin Ludgate and Dawn Blythe with their 590kg Ronick Hawk sired heifer Blossum which was also Reserve Overall Champion at the recent Borderway Agri-Expo.
Steer championship honours went to last year’s Smithfield winners, Mike and Melanie Alford, Devon, with their Limousin cross Tyson. This one, weighing in at 612kgs, was bred by the Whiteford family at Tercrosset, Brampton, Cumrbia, and is by a Haltcliffe bull.
Taking the Continental Pedigree Championship and Overall Purebred Championship to add to the Pedigree Steer Championship were Richard and Judy Fountaine, Milton Keynes, with Cothi Eyecatcher. Eyecatcher is by Pengelly Bart and is out of Selwyn Bacardi, a Limo Tanat daughter. Bred by J M Lewis, Pentwyn, Cwrtycadno, Carmarthenshire, he tipped the scales at 592kg. Later in the day he also went on to feature in the winning Duke of Norfolk Limousin team.
Reserve Continental Champion, and taking the pedigree heifer title, was Dewlands Ebony, a Limousin heifer from Andrew Dickinson which weighed 694kg. Ebony is by Waindale UFO and out of Sloughpool Babs and was bred by DC Wright, Dulands Farm, Ashbourne.
The 720kg Withersdale Empress, a Limousin heifer from David Wharton, Willow farm, Suffolk, took the reserve pedigree heifer title. Withersdale Empress is by Wilodge Vantastic and is out of the homebred Withersdale Ainsi, a Malibu daughter.
Winning the prestigious Duke of Norfolk Trophy for the Limousin breed were three purebred steers, Cothi Eyecatcher from the Fountaines, the 620kg Dinmore Eton from Paul Dawes, Herefordshire, and the 620kg Bailea Edsared from Elfed Williams Sennybridge, Powys. Eton is fully French bred, being by Bonneval and out of Bipsie, a Musicien daughter. June 2009 born, Bailea Edsared was bred by MT Jones, Bailea, Sennybridge, Brecon and is by Seringa and out of Bailea Blessing.
In the Baby Beef section it was a one-two for Limousin-sired entries, with the overall championship going to Ayrshire-based James Nisbet with 377kg Dance With Me, a March-born heifer by Emslies Caledonian. This one was bred by Alistair Smart, Alford, Aberdeenshire and was bought at the Thainstone Spectacular for £2200 in September.
Reserve honours here were clinched by the 360kg Alfie, a son of 37,000gns sire Fieldson Alfy from Penrith showman Neil Slack. This homebred steer is out of a Limousin cross dam and had previously been Baby Beef champion at both Countryside Live, Harrogate and the Borderway Agri-Expo at Carlisle.
