Aberdeen Angus Youth Development Programme (YDP) members from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland took the three overall titles at the Aberdeen Angus YDP event in Scotland last week.
A highlight in the calendar year of many young Irish and UK Aberdeen Angus cattle breed enthusiasts, the 25th anniversary Aberdeen Angus YDP finals took place at the farm of the famous Deveron Herd of Hamish and Margaret Sclater, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11.
The finalists for this year’s event arrived from across Ireland and the UK on the Friday to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Proceedings for the two-day event kicked off on Friday evening with a welcome buffet and a team-building exercise led by this year’s World Angus Forum team before they delivered a presentation about their time at the forum, which took place in Australia back in May.
The World Forum team were then given a presentation for their success and as a thank you for the work they put in over the past 18 months.
On the Saturday morning of the event, this year’s finalists and their parents all arrived to the Sclater farm in Deveron.
The herd had over 40 spring-born calves halter trained and offered their facilities for the 32 finalists to compete across the following sections:
- Clipping;
- Grooming;
- Ringcraft;
- Stock judging;
- Panel interviews and presentations.
According to the organisers, these sections were judged by “some of the top breeders and judges in the Angus world” including:
- Clipping: Bernard Keirns;
- Grooming: James Rea;
- Ringcraft: Andy Fraser;
- Stock judging: William McLaren;
- Panel: Angela Macgregor, Daniel Whitford, and Ian Watson.
The day progressed at a great pace with all parties having their work cut out for them due to the high standards on display, according to the organisers.
After spending a long hard day at the finals event, it was back to the hotel for the presentation dinner which was MC’d on the night by Niall Lynch, coordinator for Ireland who, along with Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society president Alan Morrison and YDP chair Ewen Campbell, welcomed everyone to the dinner and thanked all for a great show throughout the day.
After the dinner party, John and Marion Tilson of the Wedderlie Herd were invited to the stage to present the prizes on the night.
The Tilsons were one of the founding members of the YDP 25 some years ago.
The table below details the winners in each of the sections:
Section
First
Second
Third
Junior clipping:
Cameron Barclay
Adam Kearney
Sophie Tunney
Intermediate clipping:
Finlay Hunter
Grant Rhind
Cliodhna Smith
Senior clipping:
James Morrison
Sam Dudley
Matthew Cochrane
Junior grooming:
Cameron Barclay
Adam Kearney
Sophie Tunney
Intermediate grooming:
Finlay Hunter
Cliodhna Smith
Grant Rhind
Senior grooming:
James Morrison
Matthew Cochrane
Ruby Simpson
Junior ringcraft:
Adam Kearney
Liam Farrell
Henry Williamson
Intermediate ringcraft:
Thomas Goldie
Cliodhna Smith
Finlay Hunter
Senior ringcraft:
Eva Jackson
James Morrison
Matthew Cochrane
Junior stock judging:
Max Harrod
Sam Ferguson
Cameron Barclay
Intermediate stock judging:
Gregor Milne
Thomas Goldie
Cliodhna Smith
Senior stock judging:
Andrew Reid
Ruby Simpson
Eva Jackson
Intermediate panel interviews:
Cliodhna Smith
Grant Rhind
Aine Heffernan
Senior panel interviews:
James Morrison
Lizzie Harding
Sam Dudley
The Lloyd Shield for best display of clipping was won by James Morrison.
Then it was on to the Overall Champions and the junior section was won by Adam Kearney, with second place going to Cameron Barclay and third going to Liam Farrell.
The intermediate section Overall Champion title was won by Cliodhna Smith, with second place going to Finlay Hunter and third to Grant Rhind.
Finally, the Overall Senior Champion was won by James Morrison, with second place going to Matthew Cochrane and third going to Ruby Simpson.
Included in the prizes were a £1,500 travel bursary for the overal senior winner, a cattle blower for the intermediate winner, and cattle clippers for the overall junior winner.
The Aberdeen Angus YDP organisers thanked all those who supported the event in any way and congratulated to all the winners and finalists for the 2025 event.
