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Frome Show a firm fixture in farmers’ diaries

WHILE FROME’S annual Agricultural and Cheese Show has become a major "must visit this great day out" family attraction, it’s still a very firm date in the diary of farmers not only from Somerset and Wiltshire but from right across the region.

The show, which has been staged ever since Victoria was on the throne, features a huge range of agricultural equipment and services – visitors can literally buy anything from a fork to a forage harvester – and traditional competitions such as fodder and grain, where maize, silage, hay, wheat and barley are judged for their quality, and eggs, where prizes in 24 classes are up for grabs.

There are also Local Food and Fine Food Halls (the former has been sold out since March) where locally and regionally produced delicacies, many of them created using "artisan" skills, are a mouth watering attraction, and of course the Cheese Pavilion reflects the show’s heritage where hundreds of different cheeses and dairy products will be vying with each other for the coveted "Champion Cheese" title.

And this year has seen the development of a new "countryside area" where rural pursuits, such as gun dog working and fly casting will be demonstrated and where craftsmen such as blacksmiths, walking stick makers, bodgers and others will be showing off their now increasingly rare skills.

However, it’s the animal classes which attract the greatest visitor interest each year.

The 2010 show, which is being held on Saturday, September 11th, will have more than 200 classes for cattle alone, with 18 breeds as well as interbreed animals competing for cups and rosettes and, of course, the Dairy and Beef Champion and Reserve Champion titles.

There are first time classes for South Devon and British Charolais cattle, new classes within the already established sections, especially in beef and interbreeds, and the Holstein Society’s South West Young Breeders Calf Show, which is staged in Frome every other year, returns.

Overnight lairage is being provided in the Livestock Village, which had its debut last year, in three massive marquees sponsored by Mole Valley Farmers, with milking equipment on hand thanks to T.H. White.

The show rings in the Livestock Village were re-designed last to giving visitors an even better view of the judging.

But of course it’s not just cattle that will be on show in the Livestock Village. The sheep classes, more than 40, have been changed with the former single rare breed class being divided between breeds, new classes for down and shortwool and heath and hill sheep and there’s an offer to Shetland sheep breeders – if there are enough entries this year, they’ll have their own class next year.

Very popular with family visitors as well as with farmers, breeders and enthusiasts, the goat classes, which are open to both dairy and pygmy animals, are also being enhanced with the addition of a Novice Handler competition.

The 2010 Frome Agricultural & Cheese show is the 11th to be staged at the West Woodlands Show Ground, since the move from the former Fromefield Show Ground. Since then, continuous investment in the 70 acre venue has seen the internal roads all brought up to a higher than ever standard and significant improvements to visitor facilities.

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