Robert Bett, farm manager at Graham's The Family Dairy takes us through competition time at Scotland's premier country show
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00I suppose, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it for, there's always a little
00:26bit of nerves, I suppose you've got to try and be focused. If you're too nervous it translates
00:33to the beast. It's what we do. This is the business end, this is the top competitions
00:44today, this is what you've been aiming for. If you don't get it right at the start of
00:48the week you're not going to be involved today. So you've got to go and enjoy it as well and
00:52embrace it and just try and get it right. There's nerves, there's excitement, you're
01:03wondering what happens when you go in, you're having a quick look round, I like that one,
01:07yeah that's the opposition, I'm not so keen on that one, yeah it's between me and this
01:11one and this one, that's what you're hoping. You're hoping that you have one of the ones
01:17that you think can be involved and then you've just got to hope that the judge thinks the
01:22same. The whole thing is years in the planning, but then when you come here with good cattle
01:31you have to make every use of it and win as much as you can when you are here. It's friendly
01:37competition but it's still proper competition. We all shake hands after it, we're all friends,
01:43but when we're in that ring we all want to win.
01:49The judge will be looking for size for age, so something that's well grown, something that's
01:57mobile, it can walk, it can get round the ring. Different breeds have different points,
02:05for a limousine they're looking for this meaty shape, they're looking for width,
02:10they're looking for power and then between the very top ones it's just a little bit of
02:16x-factor, sometimes it splits them. You can't quite put your finger on it, it's just,
02:22it's a look, it's what's the difference between two supermodels? It's just personal preference
02:30and it's just something you know when you see it. I mean this is super strength hairspray just now,
02:40just to hold this in place and hopefully it won't move too much.
02:51And we're just looking to kind of put in a bit of a ball like that,
02:55it just fills this gap in and completes the whole picture.
03:03It's all about hiding the faults and accentuating the good points,
03:07that's the art form, that's what we're looking to do.
03:12And it's the same when you're showing them actually in the ring, I'm looking to show her
03:19off to her best advantage. When we get into the ring you're looking to know the geography of your
03:26ring, the rings aren't flat, there's high bits, there's low bits, so if I'm, I want the heifer
03:32facing uphill as much as possible because they look better. If we get lined up I need to make
03:38sure I'm not going to end up in a low bit because then I look small in the one next, you know I want
03:42to get the high ground and make them look smaller. You know if you have, my heifer should be one of
03:48the bigger ones so I want to use that power to my advantage. You know if you're showing against
03:54something that's smaller, get up close, overpower them. If I'm showing against, if I'm showing
04:02something that's smaller, I want to keep away from the big ones. You know it's all, it's all about
04:09knowing, understanding, having a plan in your head before you go in and you know just sticking to it
04:15and then you've just got to, you've got to react to the situation as it's going on and you've got to,
04:23you know, the animal's got to help you but that's why we spent all the time at home
04:26training them to make sure that, you know, they can handle the pressure as well.
04:56Well there we go, this time we've won so that makes up for the last time and we're delighted.
05:15Well hopefully now that we're finished we'll wash the soap out of the cattle,
05:20clean them up and then give them a drink of water and then hopefully get some lunch ourselves
05:26and maybe a celebratory beverage if we can.