James Graham takes Overall Championship at the YLBC Young Handlers Championships 2014

Sophie Harvey Reserve Champion

Isla Soutter Junior Winner

Thursday 11^th December 2014 saw the Young Limousin Breeders Club (YLBC) hold its Young Handlers Championships 2014 which took place at Borderway Mart, Carlisle on the eve of the British Limousin Cattle Society’s Red Ladies Day Sale. There was a tremendous turnout of 17 young breeders competing, and a great crowd to go with it.

Judges were Avril Murray and Robert Aitken of the Lourie Herd, Methven, Perth who had the hard task of judging the young breeders on both their handling and preparation skills. The competition was split into three sections: Junior, Intermediate & Senior.

Competitors had 20 minutes to prepare their animal before showing off their handling skills in the ring. Robert Aitken judged the preparation, where the young breeders showed off their grooming skills and knowledge before taking the cattle into the show ring. With some brilliant performances, it was really hard to judge as competitors were of such a high standard.

The competitors then took their animals into the ring where Avril Murray judged on the handling skills of the young breeders. Commenting, the Judge said: “I really enjoyed judging the Limousin Young Handlers Championship, the standard was fantastic and it was a tough job to judge. It was also nice to share judging the Overall Champion Young Handler with my Dad – making good use of a Father & Daughter team!”

With refreshments and mince pies flowing and great prizes to be won on the raffle including jackets from Cogent and Harrison & Hetherington, tickets to various shows in Ireland and a Christmas tree, everybody got involved and it was a great evening. The raffle raised £170 for YLBC funds.

Intermediate and Overall Champion was James Graham, 16, with Sophie Harvey (19) standing as Senior Champion and Reserve Overall, and Isla Soutter (13) winning the Junior Championship. Finlay Soutter received the Highly Commended award.

Junior Class:

1^st Isla Soutter

2^nd Christopher Ewing

2^nd James Adam

3^rd Alan Lindsay

4^th Finlay Soutter

5^th Jane Lindsay

Intermediate Class:

1^st James Graham

2^nd Beth Harvey

3^rd Charlotte Alford

4^th Andrew Adam

5^th Mollie Bowe

6^th Craig Pattinson

Senior Class:

1^st Sophie Harvey

2^nd John Graham

3^rd Andrew Ewing

4^th Andrew Weir

5^th Danny Escolme

On behalf of all the Young Limousin Breeders, I would like to thank our sponsors Cogent, Animal Signs, TL Bio Labs Limited, Natural Stockcare, British Limousin Cattle Society and Harrison & Hetherington; the Judges Avril Murray and Robert Aitken; all stewards, spectators and cattle exhibitors. Thank you also to Gareth Scott who presented the young breeders with a talk about Cogent and their Signature Beef range. Overall it was a fantastic event and could not have been a success without all your support.

Annabelle Wint

YLBC Co-ordinator

annabelle@limousin.co.uk