A Worcestershire farmer says it’s a “dream come true” to win the title of Supreme Champion at the English Winter Fair.
James May, from Bromsgrove, has only been showing cattle for five years but his eight-month- old Limousin cross heifer, Tinkerbell, took home the John Mansfield Challenge Trophy on Sunday 20 November at the Staffordshire County Showground.
James said: “It’s overwhelming and a complete shock. She was champion at the Kington Show in September but this is fantastic, a dream come true. She’s a really sweet heifer, stylish, showy and a little barrel of meat.”
In a ring packed with quality cattle, Tinkerbell beat another Limousin cross, Jasmine, who took the Reserve Champion title back to Bourne in Lincolnshire with Jonathan Lyon.
Jonathan said: “She is home-bred by the farm’s stock bull, Ironstone Hornblower, and was born in June 2015. She was baby beef champion at Norfolk and I’m over the moon with her.”
At a live end-of- show auction hosted by Bagshaws, Tinkerbell sold for £4,200 and Jasmine sold for £5,100. The showcase was the culmination of two days of intense competition with two cattle rings hosting the English Winter Fair and the National Pedigree Calf Show.
The calf show champion was Foxhillfarm Limited Edition, shown by Michael Alford from Devon, whose steer Foxhillfarm Manhatton won the Reserve title.
All across the country
More than 140 sheep pens and 40 pig pens brought competition from across the country.
Richard Garth from Bentham in Yorkshire took home the champion single and champion pair titles in the sheep lines with his Beltex lambs.
Steve Loveless from Bridport, Dorset, showed the champion pair of pigs, while Mark Horsley from Skirpenbeck near York won the champion singles.
More than 230 young famers took to the show for their national stock and carcass judging competition with the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs from Herefordshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire all winning trophies.
The champion beef carcass was Paul Dawes’s 336kg British Blue. The judge picked Ledbury-based Blandford & Sons 26.2kg lamb carcass as a stand-out winner while Mark Horsley added a pork carcass title to his live pigs award.
A record number of butchers, farm shops and small food businesses entered the products competition with eight winners handed prizes.
Richard Williams, chief executive of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Agricultural Society, which organises the English Winter Fair said: “It has been another brilliant year with high-quality livestock entries, a fantastic display of carcasses and a record 192 entries in to the products competition.
“The social element of the fair is always a big draw for the agricultural community and once again we had strong visitor numbers proving that the fair is a firm fixture in the agricultural calendar.”
