Royal Welsh Show 2011
Uploaded September 2011

This years Royal Welsh show took place from the 18th to the 21st of July, at Builth Wells in Powys. This show is Wales premier show, and subject to individual opinion probably one of the best shows in the country. The atmosphere is electric and the event is about socializing from start to finish. There are over 227,000 visitors to the show throughout the week. The downside to the show is that the area for the pigs is quite confined, with very little hope for expansion in its current location. This is a shame as there are some of the finest herds of pigs kept in wales.

The first day is taken up exhibiting the welsh and modern breeds, the welsh classes are allways well supported here and any one interested in the breed would do well to come along and meet the breeders here. The show is very patriotic and there is a great feel about the showground and as you walk around you can hear many people speaking the welsh language. In the Welsh classes Phill Fowlie again took top honours with his july gilt that went onto take the overall champion of the show. In the moderns, champion went to Bleddyn Beck with his large white exhibit.

On the Tuesday the traditional breeds take to the stage with the saddlebacks having their own breed classes, in which Lucy Perkins was placed champion with her Saddle back sow. The rest of the breeds are then amalgamated into the any other traditional breeds class (this is a real shame to see the breeds amalgamated, however as there is such limited space, no greater numbers of pigs can come forwards, as numbers are already restricted, that there is no real possibility of the classes being split).

In the traditional classes, Berkshires held their own with Chris Impey’s july boar Fairoaks Ambassador 6th (pictured right), taking the best traditional male, his sow Smallicombe Stonebow 86th was third in the sow class, and in the July class, Fairoaks lady 14th was first, and Fairoaks lady 13th was 6th.

In the traditional championship the July Berkshire boar of Chris’s was champion traditional male and his July gilt was reserve champion traditional female. The Berkshires went onto take best group and best pair of pigs. Both days of judging was under Mr Nick Hunkin.

On the Wednesday, its overall Championship day, again it is a shame that the time is listed for 08.30 hrs, which means that there are not many spectators to see the championships being awarded. Judge for the day was Dave Overton. Phil Fowlie was awarded supreme champion with his Welsh July gilt. Chris Impey’s July boar was awarded reserve male champion and the pair of Berkshires from Chris were awarded reserve champion pair of pigs.

If you ever get the opportunity to go to the Royal Welsh show it is well worth a visit, there is still an awful lot of work needed to bring the pig classes up to a better standard, but we have to realize they are dealing with limited space. Saying that it would be great to see more Berkshires there, and the one good thing about the show is that there are many opportunities for publicity for your pigs. It’s a great shop window, if the window is a little small at times.