Swanson siblings take top spot at lamb dressing during agri weekend in Caithness
Members from across Caithness and the north competed in the Young Farmers’ North Regional Agri Competitions Day held at Quoybrae auction mart on Saturday, by permission of Aberdeen and Northern Marts.
The day organised by the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC) saw competitors take part in Prime Lamb Dressing and Agri Skill events.
On the day, there were eight teams competing in the Agri skills, from Halkirk, Forss, Bower and West Aberdeenshire.
The events included changing plough metal, which was judged by Graeme Sinclair from Gow Agri and James Gunn of Whitefield; fault finding in a tractor which was provided by R Henderson Mechanical and Welding Services; condition scoring ewes and grading lambs, judged by Liam Gunn CLB; and a finance and business quiz and silage pit measurement devised and run by Willie Budge from SAC Consulting in Thurso.
It was a great morning with members learning new life skills through the events. It was a close-fought competition with Bower A – made up of Benjamin Rogers, Ben Mackinnon and Ryan Cormack – taking first place with a top score of 49 out of a possible 60.
Close behind them was a second equal tie between Halkirk A – Liam Mackenzie, Scott Cormack and Murray Mackenzie – and Bower B – Jak Murray, William Campbell and Lauren Oag – with 45 points each.
In the afternoon the North Prime Lamb Dressing saw eight junior teams from Keith and District, Bower, Forss and Halkirk along with five senior teams from Forss, Halkirk, West Aberdeenshire, Bower, and Keith and District.
The competition was judged by Michael Gunn and Gemma Duguid, who said: “We were really impressed with the number of junior entries and the effort all teams put in. There were some very well turned out lambs on the day.”
Andrew Swanson, Quarryside, provided the prime lambs for the competition along with the ewes and lambs for the Agri Skills events.
The winning team in the junior section were Forss members James and Bethany Swanson, scoring a respectable 88 out of a possible 100. Second place went to Halkirk members Ross Campbell and Erin Mcguire with 75.5 points, and third place went to Halkirk members Abbie Dunnet and Grace Nicolson scoring 60 points.
In the senior section, first place went to Bower members Jak Murray and Lauren Oag with 75 points, second place went to the West Aberdeenshire team of Sally Glennie and Callum Simpson with 64 points and third went to the Halkirk team made up of Morven Mackenzie and Murray Mackenzie with 60 points. Best Overall was awarded to James and Bethany Swanson of Forss.
On Sunday, the Agri and Rural Affairs committee held a farm tour of Greenland Mains, by permission of the Pottinger family. It was a very well attended event with members taking away lots of helpful information and ideas.
North regional chairperson Euan Bremner said: “We had a really successful weekend in Caithness for our Agri Weekend. Well done to all the teams who competed in the Agri Skills and Lamb Dressing on Saturday – with some excellent Hawaiian shirts on show at night! Thank you to the Agri and Rural Affairs committee for organising a very informative farm tour at Greenland Mains on Sunday.”
The previous weekend, the SAYFC North Regional annual Clay Pigeon Shooting competition was held at Darnaway Clays, Forres on Sunday, October 6, with success going to Inverurie JAC for a fifth consecutive year.
The day saw teams from across the region take part in a 50-bird all round shoot. Inverurie JAC showed their superior shooting skills on the day, taking first place with their team made up of Martyn Thomson, Ian Armstrong and Luke Burnett.
The second placed team were also from Inverurie JAC – John Rodwell, Jay Simpson and Matthew Law – and third place went to Sandwick YFC – Amy Neil, Joe Sinclair and Gary Isbister.
The Top Gun individual of competition was Martyn Thomson of Inverurie JAC.
