The quality and auction prices of beef cattle, calves and lambs was off the chart at yesterday’s seventh Royal Ulster Premier Beef & Lamb Championships.
The Logan Hall at the Eikon Exhibition Centre once again played host to fantastic line ups of livestock throughout the day leading to record breaking prices in the spirited evening auction.
The show and sale, hosted by the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, is a celebration of Northern Ireland’s pivotal beef and lamb industries in the run up to a very busy time of year for butchers, buyers and exhibitors alike.
The packed cattle rings staged the highlight of the event as the 2024 Supreme Championship title saw an exceptional line up of the finest local prime stock come forward. The judging reins for this unenviable task were handed over to renowned cattle judge Afron Jones from North Wales.
After some deliberation, Afron tapped out the Callaghan Family’s Charolais sired heifer, Shaboozey as this year’s champion and recipient of the RJ Allam’s Cup. With the Kilkeel home bred animal clocking up 588 kg on the weighbridge, all eyes were set on the final lot of the evening as auctioneer Richard Beattie knocked down his gavel to the unrivalled sum of £18,000 from MDC Commercials of Gleneely, Co Donegal.
The Callaghan Family also made the history books at this prestigious event as the first winners of the new Bred & Fed Championship and Rodgers Family Perpetual Cup. This accolade was introduced to the 2024 Show to recognise the highest placed exhibitor bred animal from across all the cattle sections and on the day Shaboozey put her best foot forward and stood out to the judge as an outstanding example of the family’s preparation and investment in their home herd.
Commenting on the new award, Elizabeth Rodgers said “We wanted to present this cup at the Royal Ulster Premier Beef & Lamb Championships to give extra recognition to the exhibitor who has concentrated on their home bred animals, from their feeding to monitoring their performance in preparation for the Show. This is something our family takes great pride in trying to accomplish. There is no better feeling than winning with an animal that you have planned and bred yourself”.
The title of Reserve Champion was scouped up by none other than JCB Commercials from Newtownards with The Skunk. The British Blue heifer came in at 756kg and after a flurry of bids was sold to D&G Magee from Rostrevor for £11,000.
Another ever popular and hotly contested title was that of the Ulster Housewife’s Championship, judged this year by local butcher Alfie Murray from Ballygowan. Taking the top honours was the fleshy Limousin heifer, Jammie Dodger proudly exhibited by the Cochrane Family from Portadown. Secured by The Morning Star in Belfast, the heifer sold for £10.97 per kilo and led the way for the Reserve Ulster Housewife’s Championship title to be awarded to RMC Commercials’ British Blue heifer from Moneymore who was later sold to Kitson Butchers for £3,000.
Alaw Evans led proceedings for the competitive calf classes and tapped out Portadown exhibitor Sam Matchett’s impressive Limousin sired heifer as her champion. After going under the hammer in the evening auction the heifer was sold for the record calf price of £16,500 to Robert Miller from Moneymore.
In the Junior Beef all eyes followed the judge as she crowned a powerful and impressive Limousin heifer exhibited by Brendan and James Quinn from Castlewellan the Champion. The 396kg home bred animal Roxy was another testament to the time and hard work that goes into producing such high quality stock.
New and old vendors alike flocked to the lamb rings to witness Tommy Jackson from Ballynahinch walk away with the Best Butcher Pair title for the second consecutive year after a very busy day at the Show. His back-to-back success with Dutch Spotted lambs helped his well-matched pair catch the attention of David Kerr who later parted with £390 for the fantastic lambs. Judge Brendan Kelly then went on to award the Reserve title to Jaden McCutcheon from Trillick for his impressive Beltex pair who went under the hammer for £400 to The Morning Star in Belfast.
The top cattle price of the night and the Sam Milliken Perpetual Cup was secured by SJ Smyth from Newtownstewart for their eye-catching Limousin heifer, Oti. The joint exhibitors walked away with a staggering £19,000 after a flurry of bids set an electric atmosphere across the Logan Hall. In the end the heifer was snapped up by John Robinson from Augher. In the sheep sale ring, Stewart Ferris walked away with the Show’s record price for two Texel lambs with M Diamond paying £700 for this special duo.
Rhonda Geary, RUAS Group Operations Director, commented “In this our seventh year of the Championships we were so proud provide our exhibitors with a platform from which to gain record prices in the both the beef and lamb sales.
This show and sale continues to provide our exhibitors with a competitive marketplace where they can network and take advantage of the ever-increasing pool of buyers from top local restaurants, butcher shops and the hospitality sector.
Last night they were able to raise their profile as independent enterprises and get a fair price for their livestock all in the one place. For our buyers, the chance to tap into the exceptional quality of local award-winning produce was just too good of an opportunity to pass up on.
On behalf of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, I would like to thank all our generous sponsors and local breed societies for their support and contributions towards building such an exciting event. I would also like to thank our esteemed judges, top class exhibitors, faithful contractors, stewards and staff for helping us to deliver another fantastic show and sale”.
Full results from the Championships can be viewed online here.
