Royal Welsh Show

Somewhat belatedly, a few pictures from the Royal Welsh Show.  We went on Monday, and it was fantastic as ever - this is such a well organised event, never any problems with parking, shuttle busses or logistics, the loos were sparkling even late in the day, plenty of delicious and reasonably priced food and drink, and 60-odd thousand people a day having a wonderful time.

Obviously, much of my time was spent with the sheep.  A highlight of the Royal Welsh for me is the Welsh Sheeptacular, where an assortment of amazingly tolerant and well-behaved rams representing a range of Welsh and other breeds take their places on a kind of ziggurat-shaped stage in a large marquee.  The show is aimed mostly at children, but it's very well done and educational for adults too.  Fly the sheepdog presides over proceedings from his kennel stage left, and there's a shearing demonstration, but mostly it's a rare chance to see so many breeds in the same place at the same time.  The Jacob, with his impressive headgear, usually gets the biggest 'oooooh!' when he comes on stage!

My friend Jane Bissett http://thekennixtonflock.webs.com/ had entered some of her Poll Dorset fleeces into the fleece competition, and when I went in straight after the judging had finished, I was delighted to find that she had won third prize in the fine category!  Having texted her to tell her the good news, I then spent a couple of hours in the sheep pens, talking to various owners and, naturally, the sheep, and taking some photographs - I am keen to have a library of photographs of as many breeds, and especially rare and British breeds, as possible, and agricultural shows are great opportunities.

One noticeable effect of the awful summer weather was the fact that sheep had evidently been sheared much later - even the teddy bear Ryelands were still looking a bit recently shorn, and not as fluffy compared to previous years.  This was visible right across the breeds, and the contrast with this year's lambs was even more than usual - they were the only ones with wool!

Wiltshire Horn - magnificent

Ryeland rear!

Suffolk tup - his name is George and he belongs to Rebecca Meredith

Welsh Sheeptacular