Rasharkin sheep farmer reigns supreme in Beltex carcass competition

All E3 grade lambs, the winning pair both weighed 20.7 kg deadweight.

And Ian wasn’t finished there.

He also won the individual Supreme Carcass title and altogether took a total of seven places in the top 10 of the pairs.

Fourth place in the pair of lambs went to first time entrant in the competition, Richard Magee from Trillick. James Carten from Limavady finished in fifth place while Marcus Johnston from Fivemiletown was ninth.

The winning pair of lambs were sired by a Beltex ram purchased from B & D Wylie’s Balbrydie flock in Angus, Scotland. The second place pair of lambs were sired by a ram from Richard T. Woods’ Kingledores flock purchased at the Carlisle show and sales and the third place pair were out of a Sugar Daddy ram from A & M Dunlop from Broughton in Scotland.

The Ram Lamb Supreme Carcass was also out of an A & M Dunlop ram.

The highest kill-out percentage on the day was 57% and that was for one of James Carten’s lambs weighing in at 39kg live and 22kg deadweight.

Overall the average kill-out percentage was 54% and more than 90% of the lambs graded as E’s and U’s with more than 80% registering as E grades.

Commenting on his success Ian McCaughern said he was absolutely delighted.

“I finished in third place last year and to take the first three places in the pairs along with the individual Supreme Carcass title this year is just great,” said Ian.

Competition judge, Kenny Linton, Agricultural Manager at Dunbia said the overall standard was very high.

“All lambs entered were very much in spec,” said Kenny. “The winning pair were exceptionally well balanced both coming in at 20.7kg and the best single lamb carcass on the day was exceptional.”

Organised by the Irish Beltex Sheep Breeders Club and supported by the Beltex Sheep Society the competition was sponsored by Dunbia and AB Europe.

On the day Ian McCaughern took the lion’s share of the £550 prize fund that was up for grabs.

“I would like to congratulate Ian McCaughern on his very successful day,” said John Harbinson, Secretary of the Irish Beltex Sheep Breeders Club. “I would also like to thank all the competitors who took part in the competition and give special thanks to our sponsors, Dunbia and AB Europe.”