One of the highlights of every year is the Royal Highland Show, and this year’s event was particularly special as it married in with the World Angus Forum which so many of our friends from around the world attended with us. Carlhurlie Darcie was the champion at this year’s Show and we’ve been speaking excusively to Doreen Cormack to get an insight into the animal and what makes it a true champion.

What are the animal’s origins?

‘’Carlhurlie Darcie descends from sire Skaill Dido K309 and dam Carlhurlie Dardanius G628, who was from one of the best breeding families at Carlhurlie. Carlhurlie Darcie’s full sister was the top price at the Carlhurlie Dispersal, selling for 11,000gns to Alistair and Graeme Fraser of the Idvies Herd.’’

Does Carlhurlie Darcie have history of being a champion?

‘’She has only been shown twice, so her Show life is relatively young. However, on those two occasions she emerged as Champion both times, so we’re really delighted with that.

The first was Fife Show in May a few days after her first birthday, where she was Aberdeen-Angus Champion and Reserve Interbreed Champion.

The second was The Royal Highland Show. Here she was Junior Aberdeen-Angus and Overall Aberdeen-Angus Champion. She was also Reserve Champion in the Junior Interbreed and Second Reserve in the Main Interbreed.’’

What makes her such an impressive animal?

‘’We think Carlhurlie Darcie is the perfect example of a modern Aberdeen-Angus, she is long, clean and very correct on her legs with great locomotion. She displays the beautiful fleshing qualities that Aberdeen-Angus are renowned for, and has a very sweet traditional Angus head and is well grown for her age. She must be one of the youngest Champions the Angus Breed has seen, so we’re really delighted with that.’’

Has there been interest to buy her?

‘’We have had several offers to buy Darcie, both at the Show and since returning home. We have however decided to keep her as we believe she is the perfect foundation for our new herd. We plan to flush her next month, so we may have a select few embryos available for sale some time soon!’’

As the first Champion Focus feature, we’d like to thank the Cormacks for taking the time to speak to us about Carlhurlie Darcie, this year’s Royal Highland Show Aberdeen-Angus champion. We look forward to bringing you profiles of more of our champion animals in the near future!