A Scottish Charolais breeder has been crowned cream of the crop by the breed society.
Andrew Hornall, who runs the Falleninch herd at Falleninch Farm on the outskirts of Stirling, is the recipient of the British Charolais Cattle Society’s Harman award. The award recognises pedigree herds with the greatest percentage improvement in Self Replacing Index (SRI) over a 12-month period.
Mr Hornall’s 20-cow herd, which was established in 1973, showed an improvement of +9.8 on SRI in the past 12 months, ending the year on an average of +41.
He said: “I am really pleased to be awarded the top spot in this great competition, which through its selection process helps to enhance the integrity of the Charolais breed.
“Our purchase of Fairway Jefferson has helped us achieve our improvement this year and our customers seem to think so too, as his first son sold for 12,000gn at Stirling.”
The runners-up were the regional contest winners from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
These were: The Herefordshire-based Oakchurch herd of Jeremy, Ala, Mia and Ryan Price, which showed a +9.3 SRI improvement to +59; the Maghera-based Coolnaslee herd of Jonathan Crawford, and his late father Gilbert, which enjoyed a SRI improvement of +8.2 to +39.7; and the Flintshire-based Maerdy herd of Esmor Evans, which experienced a +7.1 improvement to an SRI of +39.9.