A cow all the way from Aberdeenshire has come out top at the national show of Aberdeen-Angus cattle at the Royal Norfolk Show at Norwich.
The three-year-old cow, Tonley Lady Heather, was bred and exhibited by father-and-son duo Neil and Mark Wattie from Mains of Tonley, Alford.
She stood reserve breed champion at the Royal Highland Show last month and stepped up to take the breed championship at Norwich in competition at the breed’s national show with entries from 22 herds from across the UK.
“We are absolutely thrilled as it is really a great honour for the Tonley herd to win in competition with the creme-de-la-creme of Angus cattle from all over the country,” said Neil whose son, Mark, led the cow to victory and was presented with the championship trophy by the Princess Royal.
Mark said: “Princess Anne took a great interest in our champion and was amazed we had come all the way down from Aberdeenshire to compete.
“She was delighted that a cow from Aberdeenshire had won.”
The cow, shown with her heifer calf at foot, went on to stand reserve for the individual interbreed beef cattle championship of the Norfolk Show and was one of the winning pair and a member of the best team of five in the competition.
She was also interbreed champion at the Stirling show last month and will be competing at the Great Yorkshire and Turriff shows over the next few weeks.
She is a daughter of the 120-cow Tonley herd’s 19,000gn stock bull, Blelack Evermore, and her mother is also Blelack-bred, having been bought at the Blelack herd’s reduction sale in 2016.
As a 10-month-old heifer, she was Aberdeen-Angus calf champion at both the Black Beauty Bonanza at Thainstone, Inverurie, and the Stars of the Future show at Stirling in November, 2019.
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