Young Hawick farmer Zoe's golden calf saw the profits come rolling in

Zoe Hall, 27, of Horsleyhill Farm, on the Lilliesleaf road outside of Hawick, emerged triumphant at the recent Young Farmers Over-wintering Competition.

Entrants who had purchased a calf at St Boswells auction mart late last year were set the task of re-selling it this month.

And it was Zoe, a partner in the farm with her father Anthony since moving from Kielder four an a half years ago, who turned over the biggest profit.

She purchased the calf for £1,200 and after looking after it over the winter months sold it for £2,300.

Zoe is currently knee-deep in the lambing season on her farm, which has 45 cows and 900 sheep, and she and her dad recently bought a 22-month old Limousin Bull for £10,00 at Carlisle to improve the stock.

She said: “We buy the calves in October and look after them until March and then we sell them again at St Boswells, where we bought them from.

“I won the overall champion in the show and I won the most profit.

"I’ve done quite a bit of showing and I just picked out a calf that stood out, the most show-like stirk on the day.

"I got a champion rosette and prize money and Davdsons feed company sponsored a £50 vouchers and because I’d won mostly everything on the day, another sponsor, Roxan from Selkirk, are giving me a jacket and a hamper, which is very nice.

"The lamb trade is really good at the minute and so is the cattle, so those type of things make farming a little bit easier, even though it is very difficult.

"We can’t complain the way the trading is at the minute and we are just starting full-time lambing.”