SRUC Student wins Highland Champion at Royal Highland Show
An SRUC student has celebrated major success at the Royal Highland Show, winning top honours in the Highland cattle section and receiving the prestigious Hairy Highland Trophy.
Emily Armstrong, a third-year Applied Animal Science student at SRUC’s Edinburgh campus, combined her passion for Highland cattle with practical industry experience to achieve one of her biggest milestones yet at Scotland’s premier agricultural event.
Alongside her studies, Emily works with Cladich Highland Cattle Fold during term time and throughout the summer, helping care for the herd, supporting agritourism experiences and exhibiting cattle at agricultural shows.
At this year’s Royal Highland Show, Emily had the honour of showing Princess Mairi 5th of Cladich, a three-year-old heifer owned by Cladich Highland Cattle Fold.
The heifer was crowned Highland Champion, with Emily leading her to victory in one of the show’s most competitive cattle sections.
“It was an incredible honour to show Princess Mairi 5th of Cladich,” said Emily. “I’m so thankful to Stuart, our Farm Manager, and to John and Queenie Strickland for trusting me to take the rope on one of their favourite heifers. Winning with such a special animal was an amazing experience.”
The Cladich Highland Cattle Fold also achieved fourth place in the Interbreed Pairs competition and were part of the team who won fourth place in the native Interbreed Teams competition, reflecting the quality of the herd and the team’s dedication.
Emily’s success continued when she was awarded the Hairy Highland Trophy presented to the handler of the Highland Champion.
She said: “Winning the Hairy Highland Trophy was an amazing feeling and my greatest achievement yet.”
Emily’s achievements have extended beyond the show ring. She was recently selected as one of just ten young farmers from Scotland’s islands to attend the Global Agritourism Conference in Aberdeen through a CalMac scholarship.
The international conference brought together farmers, tourism businesses and industry experts from around the world to explore the future of agritourism and rural enterprise.
She said: “It was a fantastic experience and incredibly inspiring to learn about agritourism from people across the world. I’m very grateful to have been selected through the CalMac scholarship.”
Lecturer Francesca Soutter said: “Emily’s achievement is a fantastic example of what our students can accomplish when they combine academic learning with real-world industry experience. Emily will continue to build her knowledge and skills during her final year studying Animal Biosciences in pursuit of a successful career in animal and veterinary sciences. We are very proud of her!”
Find out more about studying a BSc (Hons) Animal Welfare Science at SRUC or a BSc (Hons) Veterinary Biosciences.
Posted by SRUC on 23/07/2026
