Straight off the back of their highly successful Royal Highland Show, Oxfordshire’s Spartan Herefords and stockman Luke Murphy made the long journey to Royal Norfolk. Their efforts were worthwhile and took three of the top Hereford spots of the day.
Renowned cattleman, Danny Wyllie, was tasked with judging the Herefords at Royal Norfolk Show and was delighted to see so many entries forward.
Spartan 1 Typhoon
Spartan 1 Typhoon, bred by SC and GL Hartwright, Abingdon, Oxforshire was Danny’s breed champion, and commented ‘he walked in the ring with presence and style’, adding it was the best Hereford bull he had judged since Normanton 1 Laertes.
Born in February 2020, it won its class at the Great Yorkshire and Shropshire County last year, while it stood breed champion at this year’s Royal Highland and also placed reserve male champion at Royal Lancs, reserve champion at Stafford and supreme at Shropshire County.
Spartan 1 Duchess T95
Female champion and reserve breed champion was another win for first time Norfolk Show exhibitor, SC and GL Hartwright, with Spartan 1 Duchess T95, described by Danny as ‘a tremendous heifer, which oozes character’. February 2020-born, this heifer is out of Ruckmans 1 Orange 1332 and by Panmure 1 Henry son Solpoll 1 Perfection and already has a class-win at the Royal Highland as well as the championship at Royal Lancs.
Spartan 1 Voyager SP V138
Reserve male champion was Spartan 1 Voyager SP V138, winner of the youngest bull class of the day. Voyager fought off Sandlow 1 Victor from Simon Jones, to win its class, the judge’s closest decision of the day. March 2021-born, this young bull is out of Panmure 1 Plum K19, making it a full brother to the supreme champion.
Rempstone 1 Curly N604
Regular Norfolk Show exhibitors, MJ Ludgate, Thame, Oxfordshire took the reserve female spot, with 2021 Agri Expo champion Rempstone 1 Curly N604, shown by stockman Joe Clark and sired by Solpoll 1 Nobility. Danny again took to the microphone describing it as a ‘powerful heifer with exceptional length which will make a fantastic cow’ and won the largest class of the day made up of 12 heifers.
Rempstone 1 Curly N604 was the judge’s junior champion, with Spartan 1 Duchess SP V134, which was second to Curly in the class following her through to take the reserve spot for the Hartwrights. The whole Spartan team is sired by Solpoll 1 Perfection, champion at the Hereford Cattle Society spring sale in April 2019 and was purchased for the top price of 8,000gns.
The youngest heifer class was won by Sandlow 1 Mines-A-Singlestar, from first-time Norfolk Show exhibitor Simon Jones, who had made the trip from Cheshire. A daughter of Rempstone 1 Mines-A-Double E432, it is out of Sandlow 1 Starburst by SMH King Size 87K.
Spartan Herefords rounded off their fantastic day by winning the pairs class and the group of three.
The Norfolk Special was won by PRJ and LR Vincent with Pulham Pansy 28th, a January 2021-born Pulham Ranger daughter.
The Spartan team had further success on the second day of the show with Typhoon winning the native male beef championship and Spartan 1 Duchess T95 being made reserve native female beef champion.
The Herefords also had success in the beef young handler classes as judge Garrett Behan, Ireland, put the many handlers through their paces. Cara Doggett, the current New Zealand Beef Parader National Champion, who is visiting the UK and was showing for Spartan Herefords, won the very competitive championship.