Watch: What does it take to win at the Royal Highland Show

Robert Bett, farm manager at Graham's The Family Dairy takes us through competition time at Scotland's premier country show

Transcript

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.