BYGONE DAYS: Ligget family close the season at Enniskillen

Pictured at Enniskillen are John Ligget, Tullyhue, Tandragee, who showed Tullyhue Fairy IV on behalf of his father, with Miss Yvonne Booth, Ulster Dairy Queen, and Miss Marion Cathcart

The supreme champion was chosen by judge Mr John Wallace of Stranraer, Scotland. In selecting his winner he had said: “Without belittling the standard of the other exhibits this particular animal could compete in higher a higher ‘league’.”

The animal selected a four year old Ayrshire heifer called Tullyhue Fairy IV and was the property of R J Ligget and Son’s of Tandragee.

Before carrying off the Farmers Challenge Cup the animal has also won the £75 first prize for the best dairy cow or heifer in milk.

Mr Wallace was also loud in his praise for the runner up to the champion, a crossbred Friesian cow shown by Mr Howard Domer, Clogher. Mr Wallace had remarked: “It was a fine animal.”

Competition was also keen in the other dairy championship class, that for a cow or heifer in calf. The £75 first prize went to Mr Cecil Fleming of Caledon, with a crossbred Ayrshire.

Entries in the cattle section were said by secretary Mr David S Elliott, to be very good. He said: “They are as high as in many of the past three or four years.”

Exhibitors were, in the main, from Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, although a number from further afield did attend.

Best horse suitable for agricultural or heavy draught, winner of the Rossfad Cup, was Miss Mollie Hughes, Omagh, while the reserve was Mr Robert Presho, Brookeborough.

3,000 sheep on offer at Cairncastle sale

More than 3,000 crossbred and Blackface lambs had been on offer at the annual sale held at the Meeting House, Cairncastle, Co Antrim, and conducted by Messrs Hubert Esler and Dan McAllister, Jnr, of Messrs W H Esler and Sons (Auctioneer), Point Street, Larne.

The sale, which was the largest in East Antrim, attracted buyers from a wide area. Mr Esler said that prices for the excellent stock had been up from the previous year.

Local breeder, Mr Robert Brady of Laydeside, Brady, received the top price of £10 when he sold a pen of 15 ewe lambs to Mr William Dennison of Templepatrick.

Rustlers active in SW Co Down

Cattle rustling on a widespread scale had hit South West Down with several farmers in the Banbridge and Rathfriland areas reporting “serious losses”, it was reported during this week in 1972.

Local UFU secretary Mr R H McMordie said that farmers were “simply having their calves taken from the fields”.

The latest incident had occurred the previous Saturday when on his return from church a farmer discovered that a calf, valued at around £70, had been stolen.

Mr McMordie said: “At this stage I can only advise my members to make their property as secure as possible.”