Ruaridh 1st of Ubhaidh (UK TWU090078)

Ruaridh is as complete and stylish a beef bull, let alone Highland bull, as you will be able to find anywhere in the world. His balance, topline and correctness through the legs is the equal of any Highland bull I have seen and his unique pedigree allows him to be used over any bloodline in Australia. He has length and fleshing, and improves horn sets and style in his offspring. With such fluid movement, he is a stunning bull who you could watch parade around all day.

His story is hardly one of a champion at the start. He was purchased at Oban as a youngster by the herdsman at the then Queen's fold, Balmoral - Cameron ("Dochy") Ormiston. This was for not very little money (receiving very few bids), and taken back to Balmoral and used sparingly initially. We first saw him on Dochy's phone in our living room in 2014 when he visited our fold, and this is where we first heard his nickname, "Oobidy Doobidy" (as the Gaelic pronunciation of his registered name was even too difficult for a Scotsman!)

As he grew out under the watchful eye of Dochy, he looked more and more like a herd sire and entered the show ring a few times and was hardly headed, including Grand Champion Bull at the Royal Show in Edinburgh as a 5 year old later in 2014. He was then crowned Highland Bull of the Decade for this show, and Reserve Interbreed Beef Bull of the Decade, the latter being an unheard of feat for a Highland.

After being used for several seasons at Balmoral, he was then sold to Ken and Eva Brown at Craigowmill Fold where his genes seem to really mesh with the type of Highland cow there, and his daughters started winning all sorts of broad ribbons. This is where we first saw Ruaridh in the flesh, on a trip over there in 2018 and literally could not take our eyes off him. It took us another 4 years to get his semen into Australia (many thanks to Ken and Eva for having him collected).