Day six – Pentland emperor and Upper Cornquoy ewe bound for final

The judge’s decisions are in for today and they have seen the Shorthorn bull Pentland Emperor and Upper Cornquoy’s Cheviot ewe progress to the finals of their respective competitions

Pentland Emperor was a five-year-old bull when he won at the 2016 County Show. He was shown by John Lennie of J.M. Lennie & Co, Nearhouse, Tankerness and had been bought from Mrs E. C. Robertson, from Instack, Barrock, Caithness. His sire was Chapelton Wildfire and he was out of a cow named Pentland Laura.

In our competition he beat the 2017 County Show inter-breed cattle champion, named Skaill Estella P117 – a homebred, three-year-old Aberdeen Angus cow, shown by Messrs Davidson, from Skaill, in Sandwick.

In selection Pentland Emperor to go on to the final, our judge William Gill said: “Tough choice again but I’m going with the bull. He stands four square, has length and depth and just oozes power.”

The cattle section of Ready, Set, Show! is sponsored by Serco NorthLink.

Sheep

In our sheep sections, our judge Kenneth Sutherland, from Thurso has chosen the Cheviot ewe, shown by J. & J. Smith, from Upper Cornquoy, Holm to battle it out in the final.

The ewe was champion sheep at the county show in 2017.

She was out of a home-bred ewe and sired by Durran Norseman.

Today, the ewe has beaten the 2013 County Show – a Cheviot gimmer, shown by James and Elsie Wishart, from Newbigging, Harray.

Selecting Upper Cornquoy’s ewe, our judge said: “Such a good example of the breed.”

Our sheep section is sponsored by Birsay Farmers Ltd.

• This week should have been Orkney’s agricultural shows week, kicking off with the Sanday Show on Friday, July 31. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic the six shows had to be  and other associated events had to be cancelled. To mark the week, we are pitting past sheep and cattle champions of The County Show against each other, under the eyes of judges, in a knock out competition. All the animals are judged based on pictures and information from the day they won. Next week we’ll be doing the same with the horse champions. Those who owned and exhibited them on the day are treated as the owners now for the purposes of the competition, although many of the animals went on to be sold following their win. For more information on the competition and animals click here.