It was one of those workshops that numbers looked good on paper but people’s busy lives often get in the way and we ended up with only a third of those that had entered. Trainers for the day were William McLaren Senior and Junior, I’m not sure they need introducing but I will give them a bit of credit! William Senior has just received the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland Sir William Young award which recognises his outstanding contribution to livestock breeding over the years. It was great to have him involved, particularly with the stock judging as I have seen pictures of when he was part of Scotland’s winning stock judging team along with many other big name stock men from back in the day.

William Junior is following in his father’s footsteps and is furthering the Netherton name with their extensive embryo programme. William has always been a big supporter of the YDP particularly when he was President of the Society and it’s interesting to hear his views and we always end up in deep discussions about the way forward for the programme.

The day started with some stock judging. The two Williams ran through the basic points of an animal and then the participants were given two groups of heifers to judge and a group of bulls. Mark Pilcher who happened to be in Scotland and brought his poor son Archie to the workshop on his Birthday, acted as master judge. It was quite amusing to hear William senior and Mark having a discussion about the best animal and both gave their points of view on them.

Central club secretary Clare McGowan was on hand to do the marking and the participants had to give their reasons on the last group of heifers. None of them had done it before and Mark and William were very complimentary about their comments. We just had some time to practise knot tying before lunch and that demonstration was done by me, not sure training is my forte though.

We stopped for lunch and all had great amusement at one young man dunking chocolate in his tea. We started the afternoon of good old hands on experience. First was the washing, I’m sure most participants can wash an animal but it is great for getting them to bond with the animals and the trainers can make their assessments too. We had the use of the Netherton show team so all the cattle were suitably tame. I can see the trainers have been reading the reports as yet again buckets and brushes were used.

Following the washing came the drying and everyone had a go at blowing the cattle. The dressing seminar came next, where William junior showed the attendees how to dress a beast with a summer coat and also with a winter coat. He also gave some great tips for getting animals who look like they have no hair to look like they have a good coat. Fab tips that you can learn on YDP but I couldn’t possibly tell you on here!

There was one wee bull calf that had a really good coat so William took the opportunity to show the participants how and where to clip on a fluffy coat. I still find clipping fascinating to watch and I hope the youngsters did too. While we were working with the show team it was an ideal opportunity to do the ring craft session, although some of the show team had been waiting around a long time and had got fed up.

It is always good to see the participants that can get the best out of animals and luckily we had one pink stick for the only young lady that had come along. Funnily enough William wasn’t too keen on the attendees clipping his show team and I can’t understand why. So we did some heads and tails of the heifers we’d used for stockjudging. Some were more keen to get involved than others – the heifers that is.

All the participants had a go and again they did very well, it’s not easy to get used to the weight of clippers or how to use them, wherever we hold workshops those that haven’t clipped before are afraid of hurting the animals and it takes a while to get used to it all. The day finished off with halter making. William Senior took charge of this and one young man proved to be quite a natural taking half the time of the others.

Another great workshop with thanks going to the McLaren Family and Clare McGowan.

A lady who had brought her grand children to the workshop summed it by saying ‘I hope they realise who they have been taught by today.’ Names and herd names probably don’t mean that much to the really young ones especially if they are not into Angus, but as long as they learn some tips and can get involved hopefully they go home happy.

The day after Netherton I travelled to the Borders, they didn’t have a workshop last year as we didn’t have the numbers but new Borders club secretary Sian Sharp was very keen to have one this year. David and Christine Lucas (Sian’s parents) had been persuaded (I was going to write forced!) to hold the workshop at their farm. Their Cheeklaw Angus herd has had many big awards to their name and they have already been doing really well in 2011 so what a great place for us to go to.

Sian was instrumental in setting up the YDP and I’m always a little nervous as I hope she approves of what we’ve done with it! Helping Sian for the day was James Cameron or Woody as I have always known him. James hails originally from the Borders but has worked with numerous breeds and big named herds throughout the UK but is working in Dundee at the mo. James happened to be in the area and Sian persuaded him to get involved. He actually turned out to be quite good at the training too.

The day started with each very keen and enthusiastic participant being given an animal and being asked to clean and prepare it for show. Woody showed everyone the way he would do it and then everyone was let loose with buckets, aerosol cans and sprayers. All the participants were aged 14 and under and it was interesting to see them left to their own devices.

The ones that had not much experience were helped by Woody and the rest were given advice by Dave and Sian. While all the cattle were from the show team, the humid day meant lots of flies and the participants had their patience tried at times.

Woody took the cattle out one by one and the youngsters marked each of them on the overall presentation. One young man was pretty harsh so I hope I won’t be judged by him in the near future! Next came the quick release knot, Woody showed us his version which was different to anyone I’ve seen and actually was pretty sensible, it didn’t slide up and make the knot tight. Dave showed us his two versions and the youngsters all had a go at all of them. The morning finished with clipping. Dave kindly showed everyone how to clip a head and tail and everyone who wanted a go had a go at the tail.

We stopped for lunch and I couldn’t believe five lads could be so quiet, it didn’t last though. The afternoon was spent stockjudging. The group of bulls that were picked are destined for Perth so it will be interesting to see which one comes out on top in February. The participants were asked to assess the bulls, put them in an order and write down three things about each bull. They may only be 11-14 years old, but it was really great to hear them read out there points and it showed just how much they knew about cattle.

It was really nice to go back to the Borders and a massive thank you to Dave and Christine Lucas, Sian Sharp and James ‘Woody’ Cameron.

Northern Ireland is the next stop and it hasn’t gone quite to plan, but I’m sure it will be a fabulous workshop, even if I have to do the training!!

Charles McCombie from Auchencrieve was the judge of the day and his first prize winner in the Senior Bull class Haymount Privor was owned by Tom Arnott of Haymount and shown by his wife Wendy. The Border Union Male Champion Halbeath King owned by Kersquarter Angus stood second and third place was awarded again to Tom Arnott this time with Haymount Wergin.

A strong yearling bull class followed with John Elliot of Rawburn standing first and second with  April born Lakewood Decorum and a Rawburn Enigma sired bull Rawburn Evangelist. Lakewood Decorum then went on to win the Male Championship.

The cow class was won by the female champion and overall champion of the day Cheeklaw Josie Erica owned by David and Christine Lucas of Cheeklaw Farm, Duns.

She was shown with her bull calf at foot and later went on to win the Reserve Interbreed title. The Firm of T Hodge also based in Duns were second, reserve female champion and reserve overall champion with their five year old cow Lockerley Georgina. Third in the class went to Haymount with Haymount Ettralla.

The two year old heifer class was won by a daughter of the Champion sired by Easton Greys Joseph Eric, Cheeklaw Jodie Erica owned by David Lucas and shown by his daughter Sian. Standing second was another Easton Greys Joseph Eric daughter Cheeklaw BlackBerry and in third was Weeton Miss Essence owned by the firm of T Hodge.

Andrew Hodge also took first prize in the maiden heifer class with Mosston Muir Jennifer.

David Lucas

Cheeklaw Farm

Duns

Berwickshire

TD11 3HS

07885 712128

Standing reserve was the winner of class 8 Cheeklaw Erick H300 (lot 161) from David Lucas. shown by david’s daughter Sian Sharp, this one is by Tweedside Jewgal eric Z083 out of the Lord Horatio daughter Erika of Cheeklaw. He sports a milk figure of +12 and a SRI of +32.

2nd (lot 158) Messrs W and EI Brown with Drumdow Pirate H558 by The Moss Mr Esspresso D400 out of Drumdow Pure Pridella Z284

3rd (lot 164) Messrs NF Massie and Sons with Blelack Black Bosun H953 by Netherallan Peter Pershore E052 out of Blelack Blackcap D030

4th 9lot 165) Messrs TH Brewis with Eastfield Pacemaker H889 by Halbeath King Kong B036 out of Eastfield Paulette A061

5th (lot 160) JA Laing with Flodden Ernest H453 by Carlhurlie Largesse B265 out of Flodden Evita Samantha B145