The Simmental champion, Sterling Viking from Boddington Estates, Cheltenham has taken the interbreed beef title this morning at the Royal Show.
Viking, by homebred sire Sterling Rocherster and out of Sterling Helen's Lyric has picked up a string of awards this season already, including interbreed titles at Devon and Cornwall. He is one of the team of stock sires for the Sterling herd, having been passsed unsold at Perth in October at 10,000gns.
Standing reserve to the Simmental, and I have to say to my surprise, was the Limousin champion, Millington Davina. She is by Mas Du Clo and out of Brockhurst Option.
Davina also picked up the junior Continental title ahead of the British Blue heifer Boomer DKNY from Boomer Birch, she is by Operateur de Fontena and out of Boomer Armani.
Taking the native junior title was the Hereford bull Romany 1 Emperor from the Wilson family, Kelso. He's by Crickley 1 Figurehead and out of Romany 1 Pansy
Reserve here was the Shorthorn bull Colnvalley Bogart from Douglas McMillan. This one is by Colnvalley Titanic out of Colnvalley Princess Royal.
What are your thoughts on the Sterling bull? Have heard that his locomotion lets him down a bit, but I still haven't seen him in the flesh myself.
A good solid correct bull, but as one man said to me this morning he's not got that something special. On the day probably the most correct animal there, not sure I'd want to breed with it though.
in the interbreed it was the simmental bull all the way i think,such a stylish bull ,very classy and well balanced, and then the lim heifer for reserve,well done to the lim ,i hope the critics of this heifer winning the breed chamionship on the tues can start to apprecite her for how good she is,including you,jonathan long!!!you have dissed this heifer twice on your blog now. you obviously cant appreciate a good animal when you see one.or are you being led by other peoples influence??study the heifer and like me you will struggle to find fault in her.
well done to the simmy boys,the cattle looked tremendous!!
Ginger, I stand by what I said originally, I still believe there were better Lims in the shed than the Millington heifer. Rest assured this is my opinion and no one elses. I studied the heifer closely when she was shown and she has her faults, as do most beasts. That said well done to the Millington team for collecting the silverware they did.
Struggle to find fault in her...........I'm not being rude, but that is hilarious! Every animal out in that interbreed has a fault, no-one yet has ever created a perfect animal. If they did they would be worth a fortune and the world would be a bloody boring place! She does have her faults - I, like JL, studied her closely - she almost clips her back legs behind her as she walks, her back left is worse than the right granted. Her top line is by no means perfect (facing down hill in the interbreed really showed that off) and she isn't as balanced as I'd like to see in a young heifer. What she was though was shown well and dressed incredibly well. She's a sweet heifer, but by no means one you will remember for years to come like previous champions I could mention.
As for simmies - yes they looked every inch the champions out there - again shown well and dressed to perfection - they have the right man on the front to turn it around when needed. But again - not perfect. If you want an animal close to perfection on the day - I don't thing you would have to look much further than the Longhorn bull - well fleshed, correct, good mover and hellish body on him - but then many of you wouldn't have looked at animals like that in an interbreed would you?????? I wish more of you would go out on a limb like JL does and critique the bits that matter, legs, feet and length - not head and handler.
Ginger - me thinks you should have gone to spec savers! Did you not twig by the shocked faces round the ring side when she was tapped out - it was hardly a chear of appreciation was it? I just think it's a shame that such a high end show (even though it's the Royal it's still important) the judges aren't good enough to judge these classes.
joules,perhaps you need a hearing aid,i heard a loud round of applause for the champion, where as the reserve had a resounding silence, perhaps there was a satalite delay to your ears.
and to baby limmy,im sure the millington heifer will be seen in the future and take many breed championships,unlike many heifers in the lim lines she hadnt been pushed to the max and over cooked and ruined like too many good females are, never to be seen again.i think she'l be one for the future.
Time will tell I guess....gonna be an interesting couple of years on the show circuit!
Look at the picture Ginger and at least two of her major faults stare out at you - what's going on with that top line, and her high shoulders really are a serious problem. Oh, and what about all that brisket then - I guess there's value in forequarter in the credit crunch?