Pencampwr y Ffair Nadolig yn gwerthu am £6000
In spite of the weather which deposited several inches of snow on the Royal Welsh showground and lowered temperatures to minus 15 deg, over 20,000 visitors and a top price of £6000 for the supreme champion once again ensured the success of the event at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells.
Charles Arch, who has worked at every Royal Welsh show for nearly 50 years and been a ringside commentator since 1978, officially opened the Fair and said the livestock on show could hold their own anywhere in the world.
However, stock numbers on farms were going down and more reliance was being placed on imports as successive governments went on taking land out of agricultural production.
“It’s all very well talking about conservation but if it were not for farmers there would be nothing to conserve,” he said. “The numbers of herds and flocks are declining and I believe that in the foreseeable future we are going to run out of food.
“The population of this country and the world is going up and up and the stream of imports is going to go down. It’s time we talked seriously about this and made sure that agricultural land is there for the purpose it was designed for.”
Mr Arch suggested that a group of Fellows and Associates of the Royal Agricultural Societies, a non-political and non-union related body, should speak up for the industry and on behalf of farmers to make sure that their ideas were made known and promoted.
The supreme championship in the cattle classes was won by Michael, Melanie and Charlotte Alford of Cullompton, Devon, for their 664kg Limousin-sired heifer Poker Face, the winner of 12 out of 15 championships at shows in England, Scotland and Wales. Bought by the Alfords for £1400, the heifer was sold via a successful telephone bid of £6000 to Simon David, of Exmoor, Devon.
The reserve supreme, the 602kg British Blue x Simmental heifer Cheeky Girl, exhibited by Dylan Hughes of Corwen, Denbighshire, sold for £3500 to Alan Davies Butchers, of Berriew, Montgomeryshire.
A pair of Dutch Texel Lambs shown by Steve Smith of Castle Caereinion, Welshpool, the supreme champions in the sheep section sold to G.J.D. Jenkins of Newcastle Emlyn for £400 each and Dafydd Lewis’ home-bred Beltex x Beltex x from Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire, the reserve championship winner, topped the bidding at £2520 selling to M. and I. Owens of Llandyssul.
Lamb carcasses sold for an average £4.73 per kilo/£99.53 per head. The prices were led by the champion from W.A. and A.J. Windsor from Whitland, Carmarthen, which sold to Arwyn Morgan of Builth Wells for £1100.
In the pig classes the pairs championship was claimed by G. & C. Davies’ Pietrains from Dryslwyn, Carmarthen, who also took the reserve single pig championship. The supreme single pig went to a Large White exhibited by Panorama Pigs of Neath, Glamorgan.
The horse and pony exhibitors at the Fair once again turned up in strength and the supreme champion was a Welsh Pony of Cob Type, the pretty chestnut filly foal Llanidan Truffle exhibited by H. Leeuwenhaag from Holland and shown by Hugh Reed.
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