Royal Show - worth a visit?

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:54 am

Hi all, i am just about to load 2 heifers and head off to the Royal until Friday.
Judging is on Weds at 11.00am. Mrs Pam Weaver.
I would just like to ask if anyone on the board is going then seek me out in the cattle lines. A good number of times people on this site have been to the same shows as me and we have never met. I would really love to see some of the faces behind the names who participate on the board.
Hopefully see some of you there then!

redhill · Post by **redhill** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:24 pm

Divided loyalties here, good luck Mark, but I know "Auntie Moomin "is also there, so may the best Dexter win.

What happens to the Royal Show trophies after this year
do they come to the DCS or do the winners hold on to them

Sue Castlemears Dexters

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:14 am

If you can still keep in touch whilst at the Royal Mark, give Di a big sloppy kiss from me and let her know that I will see her at Kent in a couple of weeks.

ngr2804 · Post by **ngr2804** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:57 pm

I was there yesterday and I would say well worth a visit.

The Dexter lines looked excellent and Lisa Bell paraded a cow and calf in the opening ceremony, which was marred by heavy showers.

Mark I did see you but you were talking at the time but would have liked to have had a chat.

I wish I could be there today but I will be looking out for the results later.

The whole show was excellent and it is a terrible shame that it won't be going ahead next year. However, it was noticeable that it was wasn't that busy, although perhaps that was because it was the first day and the weather was not good.

Nick Robinson

ngr2804 · Post by **ngr2804** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:57 pm

Results

http://www.royalshow.org.uk/show_classe ... /three.asp

tooloos · Post by **tooloos** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:59 pm

we have just got back from the show and were very impressed with the dexters. Congratulations to those who won and to every one who took part, mrs weaver certainly had a job on her hands with the judging !! Seeing the dexters in such good spirits and condition made the visit to the last royal show very worthwhile

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:59 am

I find it hard to imagine that the Royal Show is no more. It was the jewel in the crown. It's like the horse racing world not having the Grand National. Great shame. Listening to the chairman this morning, he didn't say it but presumably they were losing money because he said they had to let the brain make a business decision over the heart that wanted to keep it going. There were 1200 cattle there this year. We didn't go though, far too busy waiting for a gap in the rain to make hay, and we still haven't cut our last lot yet!

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Post by **Mark Bowles** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:21 am

Just got back last night, long 5 days but then you wonder where the time went.
Quality of dexters was very high i thought, congratulations to Ian and Katie Emmerson on champion and Lisa and Philip Bell for reserve champion.
I would also like to thank Alison Kirk and Steve and Sally Poole for the time they put in on the dexter stand.
The RASE put out a flyer to the exhibitors to say they would look into a 2010 2 day livestock event around the same time of year if they could make it viable. Not sure if they have the ability to do that but we will have to wait and see.

AlisonKirk · Post by **AlisonKirk** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:52 pm

Thank you Mark. Yes, a very high standard of cattle forward which I am sure will have encouraged those people considering going into Dexters to do so. There was a lot of interest in Melton Mowbray Sale.

Having spent all day Wednesday on the stand, I felt the day had certainly been very worthwhile. There were a number of people who were looking for a suitable breed for their small holdings, small paddocks, etc. Having answered all their questions and from comments made they would certainly be looking to purchase a Dexter or two.

I spoke to people from as far away as Ireland, the Azores, Isle of Man - all interested in Dexter cattle and the beef. Yes, there were some local people as well - some already Dexter owners and others seriously considering the breed.

I received an e-mail on Thursday from someone I had spoken to on the stand: "Thankyou for taking the time to speak to us yesterday, we are now big Dexter fans!"

Alison Kirk
Boram Dexters

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:42 pm

It was a chance viewing of Dexters at the Royal Show in 1985 which interested me in the breed. At the time we were in the process of gearing up to provide our household with a goat to give us a supply of fresh non pasteurised milk. We saw the Dexters, which of course I had heard of but never seen in the flesh till the. All ideas of goats went out the window, and I had several attempts at buying one at sales by putting in what I thought were excessive bids through John Thornborrow the auctioneer. He was very good and helpful, but I just did not give him enough of a bid to get one. Eventually he put me in touch with Veronica, and we bought Harron Erica privately for £400. Erica had had one calf and was in calf again, and that was Burnside Holly. Erica's massive price tag of £400 seemed less significant when I sold her at the RBST sale at Stoneleigh in 1988 for 840gns, keeping Burnside Holly as our house cow for years after that.

Many DCS members were helpful to the unknown Scottish pest trying to get a Dexter, including David Key, then DCS secretary, and Jayne Paynter.

But I digress, the point is that a show such as the Royal attracts folk from far and wide and is an excellent shop window for the breed as a whole and for individual exhibitors too.

Duncan

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:27 pm

It is very sad to see the last Royal, however two points were made in Saturday’s farming programme on the event. It is intended to have a cattle show in 2011, and also there is a smallholders exhibition planned for the future. We should obviously have a place in the latter, and it is to be hoped we can manage a presence. It is intended that the livestock in the future show will be judged not simply on looks but performance and the ability to make a profit for their owners will be taken into account. The Dexter has the potential but at present no figures to back it. Can we make sufficient progress in the next two years to compete? For years the mainstream breeds have been quoting EBV’s and not simply show results. That trend is going to escalate; we either compete or bow out. Now is your chance Clive to go in with your sheep!
Beryl (Woodmagic)

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:40 pm

If the society had an organised system for EBV's that really would be something Beryl. It would in fact be the only reason for me ever wanting to use a registered bull. Our experience with sheep has been truly dramatic. Although the recording system is not perfect, takes year to settle down and produce meaningful results, when you get there you have something firm to grasp hold of. We have had tups that everyone, including the best judges have chosen as good and they have been poor in the extreme. When measured in a formal recording system, we had tups chosen in such a way with minus EBV's and you could see it in their lambs. We thought it might be the ewes we had put them to, or they had a bad start. We would now only consider tups from recorded stock or at least from lines that are recorded. One tup was so impressive and weighed 135 kg. Yet he produced rubbish lambs.

At one of the last shows we did, the judge actually said he needed figures to make a judgement but without them he would just do what he could.

With Dexters it is a lottery and it can be years before you know whether you've made the right choice or not. We ask about every carcass we produce and get feedback from butchers, and act accordingly, but that is all we get and it's a bit late in the day really, in fact years too late!!!

If Dexter bulls were available with EBV's we would pay good money for them and their offspring. Apart from acceptable conformation, looks would not even be a criteria. There are also the genetic tests for marbling, feed efficiency and tenderness which could be used as well.

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Martin · Post by **Martin** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:42 pm

The problem is Clive that there are not enough Dexters being kept commercially, until breeders see the need it will not happen. I think it must happen eventually but trying to convince someone with a few cows and lots of show success that they need to record this and that at regular intervals will not be easy. They have had their successes without the need up to now and will not see the reasoning behind it all. Other breeds are well ahead and have proved that EBV's are not only usefull but invaluable. High prices for tups and bulls are not achieved without these figures.