Kesh Young Farmers Club, who had the largest entry of any Fermanagh Club, almost made it a clean sweep in the recent regional heats, one for Fermanagh, one for Tyrone, of the YFCU's annual stock judging competition.
The judging took place on the farm of Reggie Alcorn at Clanabogan near Omagh, and the competitors were split into five categories, according to their ages. 'Stock' included judging the quality of silage and, from that task, the emphasis shifted to assessing dairy cattle.
The event sponsors, the Ulster Bank were represented by Ederney-born Cormac McKervey who is the bank's Senior Agricultural Business Manager. He had high praise for what he saw.
"I have been really impressed with their enthusiasm. Good stockmanship", he suggested, "is a core skill for all livestock farmers, and this competition is a great event in that it helps them develop these skills further".
When the scores were totted up, separately, for the two counties' club competitors, the following were the Fermanagh placings:
(12-14 years) - 1. Aaron Noble, Kesh YFCU; 2. Morgan Walker, Kesh; 3. Zoe Armstrong, Kesh; 4. Lorna Graham, Kesh
(14-16 years) - 1. Donna Beacom, Kesh; 2. Gail Thompson, Kesh; 3. Zara Stubbs, Kesh; 4. Neal Beacom, Kesh
(16-18 years) - 1. Jonas Knox, Kesh; 2. Thomas Knox, Kesh
(18-21 years) - 1. Danielle Graham, Lisbellaw YFCU; 2. Edith Knox, Kesh YFCU
(21-25 years) - 1. Clive Henderson, Kesh YFCU; 2. Andrew Simpson, Kesh; 3. John Little, Lisbellaw
The qualifiers now go forward to the Ulster Young Farmers Clubs of Ulster stock judging finals to be held at Greenmount College of Agriculture in July.
