Irish members win top titles at 2025 Aberdeen Angus YDP Finals
Aberdeen Angus Youth Development Programme (YDP) members from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland took the three overall titles at the Aberdeen Angus YDP event in Scotland last week.
A highlight in the calendar year of many young Irish and UK Aberdeen Angus cattle breed enthusiasts, the 25th anniversary Aberdeen Angus YDP finals took place at the farm of the famous Deveron Herd of Hamish and Margaret Sclater, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11.
The finalists for this year's event arrived from across Ireland and the UK on the Friday to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Proceedings for the two-day event kicked off on Friday evening with a welcome buffet and a team-building exercise led by this year's World Angus Forum team before they delivered a presentation about their time at the forum, which took place in Australia back in May.
The World Forum team were then given a presentation for their success and as a thank you for the work they put in over the past 18 months.
On the Saturday morning of the event, this year's finalists and their parents all arrived to the Sclater farm in Deveron.
The herd had over 40 spring-born calves halter trained and offered their facilities for the 32 finalists to compete across the following sections:
- Clipping;
- Grooming;
- Ringcraft;
- Stock judging;
- Panel interviews and presentations.
According to the organisers, these sections were judged by "some of the top breeders and judges in the Angus world" including:
- Clipping: Bernard Keirns;
- Grooming: James Rea;
- Ringcraft: Andy Fraser;
- Stock judging: William McLaren;
- Panel: Angela Macgregor, Daniel Whitford, and Ian Watson.
The day progressed at a great pace with all parties having their work cut out for them due to the high standards on display, according to the organisers.
After spending a long hard day at the finals event, it was back to the hotel for the presentation dinner which was MC’d on the night by Niall Lynch, coordinator for Ireland who, along with Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society president Alan Morrison and YDP chair Ewen Campbell, welcomed everyone to the dinner and thanked all for a great show throughout the day.
After the dinner party, John and Marion Tilson of the Wedderlie Herd were invited to the stage to present the prizes on the night.
The Tilsons were one of the founding members of the YDP 25 some years ago.
The table below details the winners in each of the sections:
| Section | First | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior clipping: | Cameron Barclay | Adam Kearney | Sophie Tunney |
| Intermediate clipping: | Finlay Hunter | Grant Rhind | Cliodhna Smith |
| Senior clipping: | James Morrison | Sam Dudley | Matthew Cochrane |
| Junior grooming: | Cameron Barclay | Adam Kearney | Sophie Tunney |
| Intermediate grooming: | Finlay Hunter | Cliodhna Smith | Grant Rhind |
| Senior grooming: | James Morrison | Matthew Cochrane | Ruby Simpson |
| Junior ringcraft: | Adam Kearney | Liam Farrell | Henry Williamson |
| Intermediate ringcraft: | Thomas Goldie | Cliodhna Smith | Finlay Hunter |
| Senior ringcraft: | Eva Jackson | James Morrison | Matthew Cochrane |
| Junior stock judging: | Max Harrod | Sam Ferguson | Cameron Barclay |
| Intermediate stock judging: | Gregor Milne | Thomas Goldie | Cliodhna Smith |
| Senior stock judging: | Andrew Reid | Ruby Simpson | Eva Jackson |
| Intermediate panel interviews: | Cliodhna Smith | Grant Rhind | Aine Heffernan |
| Senior panel interviews: | James Morrison | Lizzie Harding | Sam Dudley |
The Lloyd Shield for best display of clipping was won by James Morrison.
Then it was on to the Overall Champions and the junior section was won by Adam Kearney, with second place going to Cameron Barclay and third going to Liam Farrell.
The intermediate section Overall Champion title was won by Cliodhna Smith, with second place going to Finlay Hunter and third to Grant Rhind.
Finally, the Overall Senior Champion was won by James Morrison, with second place going to Matthew Cochrane and third going to Ruby Simpson.
Included in the prizes were a £1,500 travel bursary for the overal senior winner, a cattle blower for the intermediate winner, and cattle clippers for the overall junior winner.
The Aberdeen Angus YDP organisers thanked all those who supported the event in any way and congratulated to all the winners and finalists for the 2025 event.
