Newark declared an excellent venue for inaugural Calf Show
Twenty-three breeders exhibited over 50 calves for the inaugural Midlands and East Anglia Hereford Breeders’ Association Calf Show, held during the Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show. Organisers of the Calf Show declared it was an excellent venue for their event, which was incorporated into the Native & Rare Breeds Exhibition.
With a strong emphasis on Young Handlers ’ the breeders of the future ’ there were two handler age classes and, in the main breed classes, many of the calves were exhibited by youngsters. While many of them were handling their own or their family’s calves, over half were handling calves kindly lent to them by other breeders.
The Calf Show was preceded by a demonstration on the finer points of handling animals in the show ring with professional showman Steve Edwards and Bob Borwick, a respected and successful breeder. Mr Borwick then went on to judge the Young Handler classes where Scott Coates from Newton Harcourt, Leicestershire, was awarded the Championship ’ having previously headed a 14-strong ’15 to 26 years of age’ class ’ with Charlie Jones, winner of the ’Under-14’ class, as Reserve.
Mr Clive Davies, from the successful Westwood Herd, travelled from Worcestershire to judge the breed classes and kept the many spectators interested with his excellent commentary.
The Supreme Championship was awarded to the Female Champion, an outstanding heifer, Blakesley 1 Honeysuckle, owned and bred by P and A M Riley of Towcester. In Reserve stood the Male Champion, I Markham’s striking bull, Glenmore 1 Voyager. These awards added to both calves’ successes in the Midlands and East Anglia Hereford Breeders’ Herd Competition, where they had been awarded Best Heifer and Best Bull Calf.
The Senior Bull Calf class was won by A R Owen’s Church Preen Haka, with Rodbaston Harley, owned and bred by South Staffordshire College, in second. The Intermediate Bull Calf class was won by Glenmore 1 Voyager, who went on to take the Male Championship with his stable-mate Glenmore 1 Judo in second place. Glenmore 1 Voyager was later made Reserve Male
Champion - a double for I Markham of Milton Keynes.
The Junior Bull class was won by Coventry based breeders, D and E Colledge’s Hawkesbury 1 Viking, with P Cobley’s Kinglee 1 Hero from Leicestershire in second.
T D and W T Livesey from Normanton le Heath, Leicestershire, took first and second in the Senior Heifer Calf class with Normanton 1 Fistulina and Normanton 1 Bisporous 2nd H88, both sired by 2011 Hereford Bull of the Year Normanton 1 Eastern Promise. Fistulina went on to be awarded Reserve Female Champion.
There was another double win in the Intermediate Heifer Calf class where P and A M Riley’s Blakesley 1 Honeysuckle and Blakesley 1 Holly were placed first and second. Later in the day Honeysuckle won the Female and then the Supreme Championship. Mara Model 19th, bred and exhibited by R N and M A Borwick of Northampton, won the Junior Female Calf class with P Cobley’s Kinglee 1 Bubbles 344 in second place.
The commercial class was won by M J & H M Timmis, who had travelled from Shropshire to attend the event. P Cobley’s pair of bulls fought off 13 other entries to win the pairs class.
