The opening of this year’s Royal Welsh show coincided with the UK’s hottest recorded day of the year so far, but scorching heat wasn’t going to stop some 600 pedigree beef cattle from taking centre stage on Monday last.

Fifteen beef breeds took centre stage in the picturesque setting of the hills of Llanelwedd, but when it came to the supreme interbreed champion at the close of the day, there was only going to be one winner.

This was none other than last month’s Royal Highland Show interbreed champion Normanton 1 Leartes.

The Hereford champion has been the talk of the town, not just since he won the Highland, but as a calf, when he was tapped forward as the supreme champion at the society national calf show in 2014. Owned and bred by the Livesey family from Leicestershire, the two-and-a-half-year-old was tapped out ahead of the Simmental champion by interbreed judge Robert Alwyn.

The stylish polled bull carries his long clean body on a perfect set of legs, with style and breed character in abundance.

Sired by Romany 1 Distiller, he is out of homebred dam Normanton 1 Jews Ear C21, herself a past female of the year which also bred the reserve interbreed champion Normanton 1 Eastern Promise in 2011.

Speaking with the owners, the bull is due for stud collection in the near future with the hope of exportable semen becoming available.

Coming up as reserve interbreed was the overall and female Simmental champion Popes Princess Cleo.

No stranger to the show ring, Princess Cleo was shown fresh off the back of her reserve championship wins at the recent English National show at Three Counties and the Royal Highland.

Bred by Jimmy and Vikki Wood, Preston, she is a son of Cogent bull Banwy Wonderboy and homebred Nellys Princess. The five-year-old champion was shown alongside her young heifer calf.

In the Limousin ring, Northern Irish-bred Trueman Grazia claimed top spot in the female section.

Purchased from the Savage family in 2012 for 14,000gns, the now five-year-old was exhibited by new owners Richard Bartle and Mary Cormack.

Sired by the 100,000gns Haltcliffe Vermount, she is the dam behind the 140,000gns Limousin world record-priced bull Trueman Jagger.

Full results online at www.farmersjournal.ie/pedigree