Caithness farming stalwart Kenneth Sutherland Snr says it is a “real privilege and honour” to have been asked to judge the overall sheep inter-breed championship at the 2025 Royal Highland Show.
It is the most prestigious event in Scotland’s farming calendar and will be held this year from June 19-22 at Ingliston, Edinburgh.
With more than 30 breeds of sheep at the show, judged across two days, Kenneth will have the task of crowning the best champion from each of these on the Saturday.
Kenneth’s 2000-acre farming operation, Sibmister and Stainland farms, which he runs with his two sons Stephen and Kenneth Jnr, is home to some 2000 ewes – predominantly Texel x Cheviot Mules, which are then crossed to Suffolk and Texel rams.
The family also have pedigree flocks of roughly 50 Suffolk and 50 Texel ewes. On the cattle front, the Sutherland herd consists of 400 Simmental x Longhorns that are crossed with Charolais, Simmental and Aberdeen Angus bulls.
Kenneth and the Sutherland family in general are no strangers to the Royal Highland Show.
“Apart from the foot-and-mouth years, we have shown at the Highland for most of the last 50 years,” Kenneth said. “As a child, I can mind even attending the show in Inverness before it became centralised at Ingliston.”
Kenneth’s father Jack was the first Sutherland to show at the Highland five decades ago. Since then the family have won the Halfbred section four times and the commercial section seven times.
Jack also judged the overall champion sheep at the Highland Show in the late 1970s, so Kenneth will be following in his father’s footsteps.
“My father was a big Halfbred man,” Kenneth recalled. “Most people thought that he would subsequently opt for the Halfbred champion as his overall pick, but he met in the middle and chose the Border Leicester, the terminal sire of the Halfbred, as his champion.
“Reserve champion went to a Texel tup, which was quite an emphatic choice considering that Texels were only imported into the UK in 1974.”
Kenneth Sutherland Snr holding a quaich he was given on retiring from the role of RHASS northern director in 2023.
Aside from showing at the Highland, Kenneth has also been involved in the running of the show through his role as the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) director for the northern region – a position he held between 2002 and 2023.
Kenneth’s daughter-in-law Alix, who is married to his eldest son Stephen, has now taken over the role.
“I really enjoyed my time as northern director,” Kenneth said. “This position gave me great satisfaction and provided me with the opportunity to meet people, not just farmers, from all walks of life.”
When asked what he will be looking for on the day, Kenneth’s reply can be summed up in one word: spark.
“I will be looking for something that catches my eye with a proper touch of class surrounding the animal,” he said. “However, I won’t know what that will be until the day itself.
“All I can say just now is that I am very honoured to have been asked to judge the overall champion sheep and I look forward to doing so come June.”
Three generations of Sutherlands faced the camera after the supreme sheep championship at the 2024 County Show at Thurso East went to the commercial sheep champions from Sibmister and Stainland farms. The champions were a four-crop Suffolk cross Texel ewe with her March cross Texel wedder lambs. Picture: Robert MacDonald / Northern Studios