East of England Show 2013

[Mark Bowles]

Well is this the start of the slippery slope. The East of England agricultural society have decided to drop dexter classes from next years show along with the whole dairy section.
in an email to me they quoted:-"not only has the Dairy section been lost but the pigs, goats, steam, tractors and much more".
Its a sad day indeed and maybe a sign of what is to come at other shows. This is our biggest premier show in the region, not a good day!

[clacko]

There never is many other dairy breeds there but it's always a good show and you know when you get a prize there it always means a good deal, perhaps they could add the dexters in with the beef animals like they did at royal Norfolk ? Vicky

[Rob R]

Has showing run it's course as an activity for dairymen? Most of the ones I know that used to show now no longer do or do a lot less as younger generations have taken over and they can't see the difference in the bottom line (or the return in the time invested).

[LISA]

We haven't exhibited at the East of England show for I would guess 10 years. It always used to be one of THE shows to exhibit at with 80-100 Dexters forward each year. It was an excellant show. There never was many other Dairy exhibits forward, maybe a total of 20 Holsteins.
However the last few years of attending, the East of England Show Societys attitude to ALL livestock exhibitors, and Tradestand Exhibitors was non helpful, rude and arrogant - A***holes, was I think a popular term of description! As with quite a few large show societys, they sold off vast areas of the showground as they were going broke. The resultant show was then not much more than a tacky fairground. Many exhibitors, and very importantly the public stopped attending - a downwards spiral.

However there are MANY successful show societies with expanding livestock sections (some even with a waiting list for exhibitors to get in). Showing remains the shop window for many breeds, and a social link for farmers who "don't get out much". I wonder what percentage of cattle sold through this site are as a direct result of people seeing a Dexter for the first time at shows?

[aimeeh kirkwood dexters]

i have only been to the show about twice maybe three times and i enjoy the show. i usually go into the young handlers for the dairy but i use a different breed as i have got into using the other breeds for the way to walk and the positioning of the head. at a few shows i have done well in both dairy and beef young handlers and my younger sister is slowly following in my footsteps. hopefully in next year and the following years after that i will be going to more shows as we dont go to as many now. at the newark and notts show last time we went i got reserve dairy handler. i have had a champion young handler at the emley and honley show and 2 years in a row i got 2nd place in the junior handlers which got me through into the championship. i really want to go to more shows either with my grandad or helping other members around the country. so if you want help at shows im always here to help. or even if you are new for showing i always like to help other members get involved with showing. as i am a junior member aswell i would like to join the young farmers and get involved in to either the holstein young breeders or the jerseys. but unfortunatley the nearest young farmers to us is 25 mins away and its a bit far for a tuesday night but hopefully i can join and travel down on my bike.
thanks for reading abit about my background and i hope you will get in touch if you need any help in the showing buissness

[Robert & Alison Kirk]

Not good news at all. Has anyone seen the new regulations regarding TB which come into force in January 2013, as announced in last week's Farmers Guardian. Stricter movement rules and more counties coming into 12 monthly testing.

I only wish the DEFRA, etc, would look at the possible cause of TB in cattle, because I'm sure in many cases it isn't transmitted via cattle. Only a couple of weeks ago statistics from DEFRA showed that there had been a decrease in bovine TB!!!

Best wishes

Alison Kirk
Boram Dexter Beef

[clacko]

On the subject of tb, I still don't think that defra the government and the likes realise quite how many badgers there are in the country, I would even go as far to say their estimates would not even be within 50% of the population, what I do no is that in the last 15 years the badger population has in our area gone from never seeing signs of any to sets springing up all around us, these might be clean badgers but I seriously feel in the next ten years there will be no such thing as a 4 year zone like we are in at the moment, they go on about the cost of culling but if the protection over them was lifted there would be hardly any cost at all, look at foxes, they have always been hunted shot and snared dug with dogs and the population is still growing, the badger would never be eradicated but could be controlled by the more humane methods to a more acceptable number, at the moment the situation is only going to get worse over a wider area of the country, I wonder how many do gooders poison rats and have wasps nests destroyed when they are to close for comfort!

[isabelle]

Following the general topic - I went to the last Royal Show at Stoneleigh - spoke to some super Dexter people -now have my little herd - that although they can be pains in the next will not consider a house move unless it has land.