A family whose Highland Cattle have become stars in their local village are looking forward to them winning a host of new fans when they make their debut at this year’s county show.

The Burgess family — Michael, his wife, Sandra, and son, Ben — will be bringing three of their cattle to the show for the first time after the event’s organisers opened up a Highland Cattle class in its popular livestock competition for the first time.

The Nottinghamshire County Show takes place on 11th May at Newark Showground, and has a number of classes in its cattle section, with prizes available for breeds such as Dexter, Hereford, Lincoln Red, Longhorn Cattle, and now Highland Cattle.

Michael and Sandra have owned Highland Cattle since 2012 and take part in livestock competitions across the UK.

Together with neighbour and friend Helen Loram, they will be showing two-year-old bulls Linus and Perceus and two-year-old heifer Ebony, who are part of a 15-strong herd, or fold as a herd of Highland Cattle are known.

Michael and Sandra keep their cattle in fields in and around Norwell. Michael said: “I’m sure they’ll be popular with the crowds because people really like Highland Cattle. They’re iconic. It’s the horns and the shaggy hair, you see a lot of paintings of them and people take photos of our cattle all the time.

“They love it when we’re herding them along the road, and we’ve also been asked to take them to the odd wedding or two in the past.”

The new Highland Cattle class is one of a number of new additions to the show, including a Country Craft Village section, which will feature local traders selling homemade wares, and a debut appearance in the main ring by the Imps Motorcycle display team from London.

There will be appearances from The Sheep Show; a family-friendly dog show; White Post Farm, Farnsfield; and the Wee Donkey Company.

The event is staged by the Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society and show organiser Elizabeth Halsall says the addition of Highland Cattle will help boost the popularity of the livestock competition.

She added: “The animals are a huge draw and the livestock competition is a wonderful way to showcase breeds of sheep, cattle and pigs farmed in this part of the world.”

For tickets go to www.nottinghamshirecountyshow.com