Duncan Does It

27 Jun Duncan Does It

Our National Young Farmers Shearing Competition was held on the Friday of the Highland Show in front of a packed MacRoberts Shearing Theatre. Contestants clipped a mixture of Scottish Blackfaces and Mules on the day, fighting through qualifying heats and a hotly contested final where they shore two of each breed to decide a winner.

Once the wool had settled and the speed and cleanliness of shear had been judged it was Duncan Adams of Mearns JAC who claimed the top prize and got his hands on the coveted Lister Silver Handpiece. He had this to say of the competition;

“I had a fantastic time shearing at the Royal Highland show this year. I am very proud to have won the Young Farmers competition and am very grateful to everyone involved in running the event. There are some fantastic young Scottish shearers coming up and I was up against some tough competition so am glad to have come out on top on the day.

We had 2 Scottish Blackfaces and 2 mules to do in the final, I’d decided to do my 2 mules first to get myself into a rhythm before tackling the wild blackies. I’d wondered if I’d done the right thing when I noticed most other competitors had opted for the opposite, but that was what I felt would be my best strategy and it paid off for me.

The talent coming through is great to see and I’m sure I’ll still have stiff competition from the same folks again as we move up through the grades, which shows how important it is to keep competitions like this at all levels going to get more Scottish shearers up the ranks, and the young farmers competitions is a great way for many to start.”

The full results of the Young Farmers Competitions can be found below:

Scottish Blackface Competition

1^st – Ben Wight, Biggar

2^nd Blackies – Mitchell McGillivray, Keith

3^rd Blackies – Eilidh Little , Callander

Mule Competition

1^st Mules – Cameron Armstrong, Biggar

2^nd Mules – Duncan Adams, Mearns

3^rd Mules – Chloe Cormack, Ettrick & Lauderdale

CHAMPION OVERALL and Winner of the Lister Silver Handpiece and the Worshipful Company of Woolmen – Duncan Adams, Mearns

2^nd Overall- Ben Wight, Biggar

3^rd Overall- Mitchell McGillivray, Keith

Whilst the Young Farmers Competition was running our members were also involved in the open Junior Competition. Out of a competitive field of international shearers it was Mitchell McGillivray of Keith who came out on top with Cameron Armstrong of Biggar coming in Second.

Mitchell, along with Ewan Cochrane of Crossroads YFC has also been chosen to represent Scotland in the Junior classes at the Royal Welsh later this year. Congratulations to both.

Well done to all our shearers for a fantastic competition. And thank you to our stewards, wool handlers and stockworkers as well as all those at the Shearing Theatre who made the competition run such a success.