Northumberland Show: sheep results

A two-crop Suffolk ewe from Alan MacKinnon’s Thistledoo flock at Coldstream which stole the sheep interbreed title at Northumberland Show, under judge by J Herdman. the animal was sired by a Flodden tup and was a fantastic showcase for the breed.

Reserve went to the Texel champion,  put forward by the Gray family from Selkirk. A Mitchellhill Paparazzi daughter, out of a home-bred ewe by Castlecairn Kung Foo, she was Royal Highland winner as a shearling in 2011.

In the hill sheep sections, GM and C Walton took champion in the Blackfaced class with their Blackface Ewe Lamb, which took the champion title; closely followed by A Murray and Sons in Reserve with their Rough Ewe. In the Swaledale class, champion was awarded to JR Dalton with their tup hogg. Runner up was another tup this time from K and SM Johnson in reserve.

Champion of the North of England Mule class went to RJD and FJ Wilson, with RD Archer and Son in reserve. A clear run for the Firm of G Gray was had in the Texel section, with a ewe from the flock taking champion, a tup lamb taking the best opposite sex to champion and the company taking male, reserve, female and reserve female champion; a fantastic run of successes.

In the continental section, JW Davison took away the champion title with Jonathan Wales in reserve. Charles Scott took champion in the Zwartbles, with AJ Thorburn in reserve.

The Young Sheep Handler Class made its debut this year, supported by Vickers and Barrass, Chartered Surveryors from Darlington and Stockton Mart. Their representative, Adam Barrass told us, “I’m delighted to be able to present the prize in this class. I think it’s great for kids to get involved in the agriculture at an early age, and this sort of event is ideal for nurturing their interest.”

Eleven year old Joshua Thorburn from Annan took top spot as Sheep Young Handler (11) closely followed by Cameron Cormack, also from Annan (age 3½) and Northumbrian boy, Robbie Binks (12) in third.

Youngs RPS have long been supporters of the sheep section, and this year reported that their day had been better than ever. Their spokesman, Charles Raine, who has been a regular attendee and sponsor for over ten years, said, “We’ve been so busy on our exhibition stand, and thrilled by the positive response by our clients who have enjoyed the atmosphere and beautiful setting here at Bywell Hall.”