Following some cracking herd visits in the south of the country, the Aberdeen-Angus World Forum Roadshow arrived in the breed’s ancestral homeland after visiting the Highland Club and the historic livestock exhibitions at Dingwall Mart.

A visit to the Galcantray herd at Cawdor, was also made before arriving at Ballindalloch – home to the oldest Aberdeen-Angus herd in the stud book.

It was there that Sir George Macpherson-Grant – a one time director of the company that started The Scottish Farmer – refined the breed during the latter half of the 19th century.

He had continued the work of the great builder of the breed, William McCombie, of Tillyfour, near Alford, and it was there that the party of delegates from all over the world arrived on the Friday.

Tillyfour is now farmed by the Mathers family as tenants of the Salvesons’ estate and the farm was well laid out for greeting the guests.

Providing a welcome was William McCombie himself, (aka as his descendant Charles McCombie dressed in period clothing and sporting mutton shop sideburns).

Local Aberdeen Angus breeders had stock on show, while trailer tours took visitors round the fields to view the commercial and pure Aberdeen-Angus cattle. Several local trade stands and a display from the Alford Heritage Centre based in the old livestock mart kept everyone interested.

After lunch, there was a ‘Royal’ visit when a horse-drawn carriage arrived to be greeted by the great McCombie himself.

Alighting from the carriage was her Majesty Queen Victoria (Mary Gash) who came to re-enact the visit of the queen in 1868, which saw McCombie parade his best beasts sometime several times over to give an impression of a bigger herd. He also built an extra wing on the house for the Royal party to stay overnight.

The dramatisation went down well with all and several speeches were made and gifts presented before the fleet of coaches departed for Glenbervie and a stay in Dundee that evening. The following day the roadshow went further back in time when a visit to Glamis Castle saw the unveiling of a monument to the breed’s founder, Hugh Watson, of Keillor, Newtyle, on the Strathmore Estate, was unveiled by the Dowager Countess of Strathmore.

It was the work of local craftsman Roddy Mathieson and was much admired and photographed by many of the delegates.