23-01-2015

Dovecote Park 2015 Annual Carcase Competition

On Thursday 22nd January, we welcomed 130 of our producers and their families to our Skellingthorpe site for the ninth Dovecote Park Annual Carcase Competition, a highly successful event which displayed first hand the high standards of husbandry upon which we pride ourselves here at Dovecote Park...
Thursday 22nd January saw Dovecote Park’s annual Carcase Competition celebrate its ninth year, with the show returning to its former location at our Skellingthorpe site. 130 producers and their families joined the Livestock Team, Skellingthorpe staff and several Dovecote directors and Waitrose representatives for a highly successful day which marked an excellent start to 2015. This year’s judging panel was comprised of Dovecote Park’s joint Chief Executive David Gunner, with Waitrose represented by Director of Agricultural Strategy Heather Jenkins. The guest judge for this year was Malcolm Helm who has graded cattle for Dovecote Park for the entire duration of the company’s history. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, Malcolm is one of the UK’s most experienced and knowledgeable graders, and it was a privilege to have him lend his expertise to this year’s competition.

There were entries from 53 of our producers, with many submitting carcases in multiple categories. This year’s competition saw a significant change to the previous format, with steers and heifers competing together for the first time – and on this occasion, ‘the girls won’ with heifers taking home top prizes in three out of five categories.

After much deliberation by the judges, the Champion Continental Bred Carcase trophy was awarded to Robert Robinson (pictured below) from Stainforth, Doncaster, for his submission of a Limousin cross heifer.

Neil Brocklehurst, from Derbyshire, was the recipient of the Champion Native Bred Carcase award, for his home bred Aberdeen Angus heifer, which was also awarded Champion Home Bred Carcase.

Once the producers had seen their entries in the maturation chiller, the group gathered for an excellent three course dinner at Skellingthorpe Community Centre, where after a short introduction from David Gunner, the prizes were awarded by our Cattle Procurement Manager Kate Sutton. Commercial Director Laurie Ibbotson concluded the evening, highlighting the high standards of husbandry seen in this year’s event, and looking into the future of the competition.
 
We would like to extend our sincerest congratulations to all the prize winners and our thanks to the judges for their time and expertise, to the producers for entering and attending and also to our superb Livestock team for their hard work in putting the event together.
Native Champion:   N. Brocklehurst: U4 Heifer 339.3kg
Native Reserve:   G&E Robinson: U-4 Steer 369kg  
Continental Champion:   Robert Robinson: U4- Heifer 406.9kg
Continental Reserve:   EA & R Quickfall & Sons: U4- Steer 355.6kg  
Champion Home Bred:   N. Brocklehurst: U4 Heifer 339.3kg    

Class One: Aberdeen Angus Steers and Heifers                               Class Two: Hereford Steer and Heifer
      1st – N. Brocklehurst: U4 Heifer 339.3kg                                  1st – R&J Eyles: R4- Steer 364.2kg
        2nd – G&E Robinson: U-4 Steer 369kg                                2nd  – WJ Pearson:  R4 Steer  394.4 kg 
       3rd – R Seels & Son: U4 Heifer 389.8kg                                 3rd–Alne Estates: U-4 Steer 395.7kg
       4th - SJ + LH Brown: R4 Steer 384.6kg                                    4th - R. Stainthorpe: R4 Steer 368.4kg
       5th - R. Stainthorpe: U3+ Steer 380.8kg                                   5th - GB Tarry: R-4+ Steer 356.3kg

Class Three: Organic Steer and Heifer                                     Class Four: British Beef Steer and Heifer
  1st – J Hamilton & Sons: R4- Heifer 347.1kg                              1st – Robert Robinson: U4- Heifer 406.9kg
 2nd – South Pickenham Estates: R4 Heifer 381.8kg                       2nd – EA+R Quickfall & Sons: U4- Steer 355.6kg
      3rd – D.P. & G Jones: R4- Steer 390.1kg                                 3rd – T Davie: U+4- Steer 389.7kg
     4th - D.P. & G Jones: R4+ Heifer 352.4kg                                 4th - T Davie: U+4 Heifer 400.6kg
    5th - S.G. Danby & Sons: R-4+ Heifer 354.9kg                             5th - J. Mower: U4- Heifer 400.1kg 

Class Five: Cattle Connect Steer and Heifer
1st – S. Farrant & Sons: R4- Steer 340.2kg
2nd – S. Farrant & Sons: R-4+ Heifer 313kg
Judging Panel: David Gunner, Malcolm Helm & Heather Jenkins          Heather Jenkins presenting Robert Robinson with his prize.