The names of those who will judge all the classes at next year’s Royal Highland Show have been announced. The show celebrates farming, food and rural life and takes place at the show ground at Inglist between 22-25 June 2017.
Judging of 7,000 head of the country’s top cattle, sheep, horses, goats and poultry will be in the hands of 44 judges from Scotland, 48 from England, nine from Wales, six from Northern Ireland, two from the Republic of Ireland and one international judge from Canada.
Three men will be in charge of the beef interbreeds : Jack Ramsay, a Shorthorn man, will be running his practiced eye over the Native Breed teams, and Michael Robson, known for his family’s Simmentals, which regularly sell successfully at the Stirling Bull Sales, will place the Beef Breeder and Junior Inter Breed Champions.
Archie McGregor of Allanfauld, the 2015 recipient of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s (RHASS) Sir William Young Award, will take charge of the Overall Interbreed animal and Inter Breed teams.
For the World Angus Forum, the two men come from opposite ends of the UK and are perhaps better known for their connection to the Limousin or Commercial Cattle worlds. Michael Alford of Foxhill, Devon will have no difficulty cracking on with the male sections and Harry Emslie of Emslies, in Mintlaw, North East Aberdeenshire, will be certain to pick the cream of the crop in the females.
In the sheep section, two former chairmen of the RHASS will be putting their credentials to good use. William Sanderson of Blackshiels, Pathhead will award the sash to the Overall Inter Breed Champion, while John Dykes of South Slipperfield, West Linton will assess which of the breed pairs merit the top slot in the Overall Sheep Pairs Inter-Breed Championship. John will be returning for the Heavy Horse sections where he will also be placing the Female Highland Ponies In Hand.
In the dairy rings, judging duties will be down to six judges from England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Mr Ashley Fleming, of Potterwalls Jerseys in Downpatrick, Co. Down, will have the job of placing the hard fought Overall Dairy Champion.
All classes will be judged by some of the most experienced and well-respected individuals in the equine industry, including another former RHASS director, Helen Goldie. Helen, who was Chief Steward of the Light Horse section for many years, will pick the prestigious winner of the Horse of the Year Show Cuddy in Hand Qualifier. In the Hunter section, two women who are also regular Show exhibitors will play key roles.
Lesley Webb from Orchard Cottage Stables, Comber, County Down, who is also known in the eventing world, will assess the Weights and Small Hunters on the ride. The other is Rosemary Hetherington, who attends the Show each year with her Sculpture to Wear Equestrian Jewellery. Rosemary will evaluate the conformation of the Novice Hunters.
The 2017 Heavy Horse judging line up will be an all-Scottish affair. Eight judges hailing from various parts of Scotland will place the Champions in this popular section of the Show, which features some of the world’s best examples of our native breeds.
Cameron Ormiston from Balmoral, of the well-known Ormiston dynasty, will choose the Sanderson Trophy for Overall Heavy Horse. Wes Gordeyko of Willow Way Clydesdales, Alberta, Canada, will finally make it to the Show to judge the spectacle that is the Heavy Horse Turnouts. Wes, an award winning Clydesdale breeder and two times recipient of Best in Show at the Calgary Stampede’s Heavy Horse Show, was due to judge in 2015 but unable to attend.
Supported by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the 177th Royal Highland Show will take place at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh, on 22-25 June 2017
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
