Caithness Young Farmers get ready for Quoybrae overwintering competition
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The annual Young Farmers overwintering competition hosted by Aberdeen & Northern Marts will be held at Caithness Livestock Centre, Quoybrae on Monday alongside the show and sale of 1000 store cattle including 150 Aberdeen Angus and native cattle.
Eight exhibitors are set to participate in this year’s competition, which is sponsored by local agricultural contractor A H Mackay, West Greenland, with a total entry of 12 calves featuring at the event including six heifers and six bullocks.
The show and sale will take place from 9am on Monday, April 3, with Bill Cameron, Burnside of Edingight, Grange Keith judging the entries.
Young Farmers from clubs across the Caithness region will be competing in categories such as best quality animal, best presented and paraded animal, highest average daily liveweight gain, highest feeders’ margin, best overwintered animal, the novice award, the junior Young Farmer award and the Young Farmers Club award.
The objective of the competition is to encourage young farmers to take part in the buying and selling of cattle through the live auction system and, in particular, to practice the art of stockmanship in the tasks of selection, feeding, presenting and parading animals for show and sale.
Young farmers are offered the opportunity to purchase cattle at the autumn sales, feed them through the winter with a key part of the competition covering the commercial aspects of production in the feeders’ margin and daily weight gain categories.
Scott Chapman, auctioneer at Aberdeen & Northern Marts, said: “We are once again pleased to have the Young Farmers overwintering competition return to Quoybrae. It’s great to see the next generation continue to get involved in the art of stockmanship and buying and selling through the live auction ring.”
At last year’s event, the champion was a 493kg Limousin Heifer from Sophie Gunn, Hill of Forss, from Bower Young Farmers Club which sold for £1770 to Backmuir Livestock Ltd.
