West Greenland farmer a cut above the rest with Highland Show accolade – make no mis-steak about it
A Caithness farmer talked of his delight after being chosen as a finalist in a prestigious competition that will feature at the Royal Highland Show in Ingliston later this month.
Andrew Mackay from West Greenland Farm near Castletown said he was one of 12 producers from the north and north-east selected as a finalist for the Kepak McIntosh Donald/Tesco steak competition.
“We supply cattle most weeks to them [Kepak] through Caithness Livestock Breeders and we entered some cattle into this competition and were lucky enough to become one of the 12 that qualifies for the Highland Show,” said Andrew.
He went on to say that there is a sirloin steak competition taking place at the Tesco stand during the Ingliston event on Friday, June 21 which will be overseen by a panel of judges from Tesco, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and Kepak.
This year’s contest attracted around 150 carcasses from cattle supplied by farmers from as far north as Caithness and down into Angus. They were judged as part of the Tesco Finest range at Kepak McIntosh Donald’s site at Portlethen by the firm’s former managing director Ralph Green, founder of the competition. He said he selected the 12 finalists based on the type of sirloin he would buy off the shelf.
“The twelve sirloins I selected were clear finalists to me with a nice finish and a good level of marbling,” Mr Green told the Press and Journal last week. He added: “The Aberdeen-Angus sirloins were generally more marbled than the bulk of the conventional steaks [and have] a nice finish.”
Mr Green will present the final winners with their prizes on the stand at this month’s show.
Andrew said that he does not show livestock at the Caithness County Show or any of the other competitions throughout the region.
“We supply cattle to the Kepak McIntosh Donald abattoir and they supply Tesco and other places with probably around 90,000 a year. We got the opportunity to enter this competition so went for it.
“On the Friday of the Highland Show, they’ll take the 12 steaks selected and there will be a chef there who will cook them. They’re judged on the eating quality and the taste so we’ll see how we get on.”
In the competition results for the Aberdeen Angus section, it states that Andrew H Mackay of West Greenland Farm, Castletown, Thurso has been selected with a “A-A cross stot, 371.5kg, R4L, 17 months and 11 days”.
“We are very delighted to get a bit of recognition as we believe we produce very, very good quality beef here in the north of Scotland. It’s great to be recognised for that and it will be interesting to see how we get on going forward.”
Andrew is also chairman of the Caithness Vintage Tractor and Machinery Club and last year’s ploughing match was held at his farm.