The first day of the last ever Royal Show has been greeted with a torrential downpour here at Stoneleigh. It's not quite got to 2007 proportions yet and thankfully we've not had too many wet weeks in the run up to the show, so it shouldn't get too boggy, but anything's possible. It does seem a fitting way for the show to start, however, a grey overcast and wet morning rings true with the atmosphere on the showground today.
Having been here since Sunday I was relatively optimistic of the atmosphere, with all the stockman pitching to help each other and the usual banter filling the air, but this morning that jovial nature is hard to find and with judging due to get underway in just 10 minutes there are few people to be seen. That said, I'm confident there are some cracking stock in the lines.
As to the future of the show, well there is a briefing at 1030 which I expect will contain an announcement about plans for next year, so watch this space for news as soon as I have it........
Looking forward to hearing all the cattle results toaday! Be interesting to see how Mortimers big cow fairs under a different judge!
She looks well in the stalls and while I wouldn't say there's nothing to touch her, she does stand out a mile from some of the more ordinary Charolais in the lines. Results will be coming thick and fast once judging gets underway..
Hi Jonathan,
I hope you're well. I'm also looking forward to hearing the results,particularly the lim's!I hope the weather improves!
alison
Hi Jonathan,I hope you're well. I'm looking forward to hearing the lim results today! I hope the weather improves in the meantime.
alison
Hi Alison, having seen a couple of the Lim classes judged I'm not overly impressed with the judging, in several cases good powerful bodied beasts have been well down the line. Results to follow in due course....
Any news of the Charolais? How does the stock on show compare to the Highland?
is the big mortimers cow u refer to,mortimers urovision..
It sure is.
Any news from the rings of the best breed there (Blondes)?? Who cares about a charolais all the charolais ive seen at shows this year have been poor getting way too much bone and too tall and rangey! Blondes and Lims the way forward.....
blondes a breed that will be gone in twenty years.
and as far as lims go all the bulls that we have sold this year have gone to former limi men, all beacuase there seeing there charolais neighbours making more money at the mart. GROWTH IS KING long live the charolais. urovision is a great cow.. wish we had a few like her.
I totally agree Bab re.charolais,it is rare to see one that actually has any natural muscling at all. However,you can't really compare blondes with lims - how many blondes actually sell for over 5k at breed sales?!!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I breed charolais and am therefore naturally biased! Although the last time I saw charo calves sold in the store ring, there was no weight deduction for bone. But would agree with Alison re the limos vs blondes!
Charolais judging is still ongoing, results will follow in due course, should be another half an hour or so I'd say.
Blondes are judged until tomorrow, so you'll have to wait until then for news from them! Let's try to keep the comments civilised please ladies and gents, we all breed stock to suit our farming systems and tastes, there's no perfect breed or everyone would have the same and just think how dull that would make life!
You can't have sold many bulls then fubar (only joking!). I agree that charolais are hard to top re.weight,but surely lims grade and kill out better at the factory plus you don't generally need a calving aid to get the calf out and they get up and suck themselves!
Are the Simm's being judged today? Presume Sterling will be up there or thereabouts in both the Male and Female Championships.
Simms are still on the go now, I've not got the result yet, but will let you have it as soon as I know.
Keep up the good work Jonathan, your my lifeline to civilisation at the moment. Wish I was there!
That shut us all up! That doesn't sound so good for the lims for the interbreed, but we can't win them all! Thanks for those results Jonathan.
alison, havent required a calving aid for the last 3 or 4 years to get a pure charolais calf out. the boss is old fashioned still likes to use a lim bull for supposed easy calving out of 15 heifers calved this year 13 were pulled out with a calving aid.. guess what no more lim bull and there wont be another one. this last winter n spring the pure charolais calves have topped the trade in the stores and fat marts for us..making on average a hundred quid more than the cross lim animals... and there is a perfect breed the rest of europe knows this, charolais is number one.. . be good to see the charolais results
Alison, sorry I hope I didn't come across as too harsh, the point I was making was that its all about fitting together the jigsaw of breed, climate, location and farm type, some breeds thrive in some places and others don't, but I have to say when you hear the price abattoirs and butchers pay to get rid of waste some breeds need a bit of a rethink on the breeding aims.
captain hook whats your herd prefix if u dont mind me asking
B-A-B - You're obviously not here to see that Blondes are obviously not best - sorry Jonathan I know you asked us to be polite but i have to say this - the Blondes I've seen today in these sheds are shocking, the worse I have ever seen. I don't care what colour, origin or anything else for that matter an animal is as long as it's a good one and the Blondes are massively disappointing - tall, narrow, no flesh, all front head and awful legs. Just where the heck is this breed going - it needs help and fast!
I mean, i dont use this site to argue, everyone has there own opinion but the fact that the limousin breed is officially the number onebreed in the country speaks for itself!! you dont see an average at carslisle pedigree limmy sale or anywhere else really with an average as good as a limmy sale(exception perth last sale where people paid over the odds, and the phrase" i bought a bull form the last perth sale has been heard"), what kills out but, meeting the butchers ideal grading the....limmy and as a bonus which breed has the value of the dearest bull and female in history!!! nowt beats a limmy
anyway you should all have what you want!!
Hi Jonathan,don't worry you're right and I do agree with you. Good Luck for your judging tomorrow,I hope you've a good day and aren't soaked. What breed do you show by the way?
I'm glad 'the boss' still has some good ideas in using a lim. Unfortunately you must have just been extremely unlucky in the bull you've used - either that or your heifers know that in the future they'll need help anyway,so they may as well start how they mean to go on!
CML...... I havent seen the blondes at the Royal...... but if you will please dont comment until the Yorkshire...... thats where the better blonde exhibitors will be, Kendall Jackson, Willie Seels, Alan Hall, Everingham Blondes (sorry dont know their names).... all with exceptional cattle.... was at Lincolnshire and Jacksons Bull was far and away the best there..... just a shame about the breed judge seeming to get confused in a few of his classes but Seels heifer an absolute credit to any breed and the two cows in the cow class were outstanding exceptional bodied big cows with good legs...... whereas the charolais at the Lincoln were of a very very poor standard!
bab in that case dont judge teh charolais until after the perth show when all the big herds come out to play..the royal isnt a show where your gonna make any money so whats the point in going
fubar...... charolais are a breed of the past you go to any store market and blondes are selling far better..... the strange thing with our breed is the bulls make nowt at sales dissapointing really but i think alot of people know our chairman and council are about as much use as aan underwater hairdryer! Yorkshire is the biggest show in England so ill take that as the yard stick.......
Hi Alison, thankfully it stayed dry this morning. We were out with Southdowns and Hampshire Downs - reserve male and reserve female in the Southdowns, not quite so close to the top in the Hamps, but sheep admired by a lot of ringsiders, so not all bad.
BAB, CMl has every right to comment on what's here at the Royal as that was what was being discusses and its more than fair to say its a less than vintage show of Blondes here. As for the Seels heifer, she's a good body of meat but she has a fault. We'll see what Yorkshire brings.
bab all im gonna say is keep living in your dream world its obvious you dont know what your talking about simple as that... and im sure you have the courage to say something to the chairman of the blonde society and council. or dont you have the courage to do this.
In reply to Fubar, Mornity is our prefix. If I don't have my own bulls at the sales then I help out Blelack. What do you go under?
captain hook this is my email. iw1979@hotmail.com if u wanna talk charolais..
Well Done Jonathan,thats brilliant going and good you didn't get soaked. Any word on the show's future?
So no clue as to who you are first?
This reminds me of that string about the Commercial cattle society from a while ago! talk about handbags at dawn! 'My breed is best!' 'No mine!' etc etc...yawn, get over it people. Thankfully we have all these breeds to choose from, each and every one of them has their own faults, and each and every one their strengths, long may they all continue, and to those small minded, blinkered people out there, cheer up, have a day off or something... Thats not to say I dont like a bit of banter mind....