The inaugural Blackface Sheep Breeders' Association Young Breeders' event at Midlock, Crawford, was hailed a roaring success having attracted a large number of enthusiasts from Northern Ireland, Newcastleton, Central Scotland, and Argyll.

The event, held with the kind permission of the Wight family and organised by Jen Craig and Jenna Ballantyne, saw Allan Wight first give an insight into the running farm before attendees were divided into eight teams.

Initial ice-breaking activities included team members having to down a pint of cider, eat two dry crackers, sheep tag a piece of cardboard twice, complete 10 push ups then fill a 25kg bag of feed from the hopper and run back to the start. Finally, individuals had one chance to hit a nail in a block of wood – and all against the clock.

Association vice-president, Derek Redpath gave a quick demonstration on the characteristics of the breed, and the teams were then able to attend hands-on workstations on various aspects to include sheep dressing, horn setting, horn turning, and OPA scanning.

There were also four classes of stock judging and guess the tup, breeder, purchaser, and farm photograph competitions.

To round off an exceptional day, there was a sweepstake of guessing the value of tups sold/purchased by the Wights on display. At a £1 entry, the winner took all. After several additions, the outright winner who guessed the very expensive wall display of £548,500 was Thomas Muirhead.

Leading Awards

Team stockjudging (Sponsored by Davidson Animal Feeds) – Team of three – 1, Wull McClymont, Lewis MacKenzie, Matt Dunlop, Gordon MacLean, Sam Adams and Thomas Muirhead, combined score of 916 points.

Individual stockjudging (sponsored by Carrs Billington) – 1, Thomas Muirhead 185 points; 2, Gordon Pate, 179; 3, Storur Normansson, 170 points.

Combined photo competition winners (Guess the tups/farms and breeders) – Team Seven – Stuart Kerr, Allan MacKenzie, Hannah Dunlop, Greig Gillespie and Mac Gilchirst.