Echt Show

With the 2021 show season once again falling foul of Covid, and most summer shows once again not taking place, we’ve asked the individual show societies to nominate a young handler or two, for us to speak to, and get their outlook on shows, and the wider industry. After all, they are the future.

Running in a similar order to the show calendar, we’re looking forward to hearing what the next generation have to say...

Sophie Adams – Age 14

Tara Adams – Age 10

Is your family involved in the farming industry?

We have grown up with farming on both sides of our family. Our parents both show Highland cattle so it has always been something we have been involved in and interested in from a very young age.

How did you get into showing?

We love the local agricultural shows and they keep us busy in the school summer holidays. We regularly show at Echt, New Deer, Banchory, Turriff, Black Isle, Tarland and Keith. We have been over to Appin in the West Coast together and Tara has shown at Dalmally.

We both also show at the Highland Cattle Club Shows held by the North of Scotland Highland Cattle Club and the East of Scotland Highland Cattle Club which we are member of. Sophie has also taken part in the young handlers competition at the Highland Cattle Society show in Oban.

We have made a few Highland cattle purchases of our own, but we also have our own flock of Herdwick sheep. We have 25 ewes and we breed them pure. We haven’t shown any of our sheep yet, but it is something we might do in the future.

What is it that you like about showing?

We love the whole experience of showing and are involved in the whole process from helping select the cattle that go to the shows, training and preparing them before the show, getting them ready at the show, showing them in their own individual cattle class at the show and then taking part in the young handlers class.

Show season is hard work and can be tiring but we feel proud and lucky when we show our animals that it is something we get to take part in. Tara says on show day she feels a mixture of being nervous and enjoying the fun side.

Are Highland cattle your favourite breed?

We both share the same opinion when it comes to favourite breeds on both the cattle and sheep side. For cattle it has to be the Highlanders because we have grown up around them. We like handling them when their young as it helps to build up a good relationship with them. We have also taken a liking to the Beef Shorthorns and have raised one on the bottle this year. The Highlanders are a hardy breed and can survive most weathers outside all year round. We like the mix of colours that they come in and it is always interesting at calving time to see what colour the calf is. The Beef Shorthorn have similar good features to the Highland as they are an easy calving breed with good quality beef.

On the sheep side our favourite is now the Valais Blacknose although we do still love our hardy Herdwicks. For a long time we have wanted a Valais. We have had successful breeding with our Herdwicks and sell fat lambs as well as having had some private sales of gimmers. Some of which went away to Orkney last year. This has meant we could buy new stock and we successfully managed with online bidding this year to buy a ¾ Valais ewe with a ewe lamb at foot from Dingwall Mart. We have also more recently bought two Jacob X Valais Blacknose ewe lambs from Thainstone Mart. The Herdwicks are interesting as they change colour as they get older. Lambs start really dark and they get lighter as they get older. We love the getting to know the personalities of all of our livestock.

What was your first showing experience?

My (Sophie’s) first show was Echt with her very young Highland calf Daisy. Tara has been going to the shows since she was a baby but one thing Sophie remembers from when Tara was very little was her wiping Daisy’s ears with baby wipes to help me get her ready. We both really loved showing the Highland calves when they were little because they were like teddy bears. People at the shows always asked questions about them and get their photo taken with them.

Do you have a favourite show?

We can’t decide on a favourite show because there are things we like about all the shows that we go to. Our Highland cattle club shows are different to other shows because it is only Highland cattle. We enjoy the social side of showing too, getting to know people and seeing the livestock that they have. We have met lots of new people through showing and have made lots of friends.

Biggest success?

Sophie – one of my biggest successes was going up in front of the Highland cattle breeders in Oban and coming 2nd out of a big class of young handlers.

Tara – biggest success was when I was nominated by Highland cattle judges to receive the Highland Cattle Craigowmill Cup for the Best Young Handler aged 18 years and under in 2019. I was 8 when I won it.

Sophie and Tara – we were both placed first in our separate age categories at Turriff Show in 2019 which was exciting success too. If we do win a trophy we like to go to the Trophy presentation dinners to receive our trophy in person. 2019 was our most successful year for showing so we are looking forward to the shows starting back again.

Disappointments?

You always feel a bit disappointed if you don’t win but we always listen to the comments we receive and try to do better next time. There is a lot of competition in the young handlers.

We look up to all our family and we take advice from many people. We like to hear what the judge tells us in young handlers, what we have done well and what we need to improve on. We watch other people when they are showing and watch how they handle their cattle.

Do you work on the farm?

We help out by doing all the jobs that we can, including feeding the cattle and sheep, rolling out straw in the sheds and love being involved at lambing time and doing what we can at calving time. If the vet comes to do something and we are able to watch then we do. We like to help at sheep clipping and watching if cattle get their feet trimmed. We try and watch and learn as much as we can.

How do you spend your spare time?

Away from our farming and showing time we both do dancing (have done since we were both three-years-old) and also love horse-riding.

What are your plans for the future?

We both want farming to play a big part of our future but we don’t exactly know what we want to do yet but plan on continuing to expand on the current livestock that we have and definitely want to keep showing and taking part in young handlers. Fingers crossed the shows are back to normal in 2022!

We have done some virtual young handlers classes in 2020 and 2021.

What would you say to someone wanting to give showing a go?

You might be nervous at the start but once you get into it, it is really good fun. Always watch the judge. Always look smart, your appearance is just as important as your animals. Just try your best!