In the sheep rings, the McAllister Family proved hard to beat securing three first placings in addition to champion and reserve.
Their supreme champions were a well matched pair of Beltex crosses bred at their Kells based farm. They are sired by the successful stock ram Clary Platform and are out of 3/4 bred Beltex ewes. They tipped the scales at 27 kilos and sold for a whopping £240 to Nigel Logan, Hillstown Farm Shop, Randalstown.
James Alexander proved unstoppable at Ballymena Christmas Show held this week when he secured all of the top placings in the cattle section.
Securing the supreme championship was his Limousin steer The Outlaw who is sired by Crillaune Armani and tipped the scales at 670 kilos.
There was a great buzz around the Ballymena venue as the last show of the year attracted a huge crowd of exhibitors and spectators.
The Outlaw was reserve steer champion at the recent Agri-Expo held at Carlisle, and looked every inch a champion under the experienced eye of judge Nigel Matchett,Portadown. The purchaser was John McDowell who snapped him up at £2,500 for his Farmview Meats butchery based at Castlereagh, Belfast.
Farmview Meats are delighted with how their champion has killed out grading an E4L at 65%. Mr McDowell commented “This is an ideal carcase weight and fat covering for our customers. We anticipate high demand in the run up to Christmas as many clients prefer beef over the festive period.”
British Blue sired cattle featured heavily in the final line up with two of the three animals sired by Black N Blue Diesel and included the overall Housewives Choice heifer Blue Pearl.
This well fleshed meaty type caught the eye of judge Nigel Matchett who described her as “ideal for any butchers shop as she handled a dream”. This was the strongest section of the show with almost 30 cattle competing for this coveted title. Blue Pearl weighed in at 550 kilos and sold to Crosskeys Meats for the events highest price of £2,600.
The reserve supreme champion was also sired by Black N Blue Diesel, and tipped the scales at 660 kilos. This entry had earlier in the day won the young farmers section and later sold for £2,200 to Mc Master Meats, Whitehead
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