What a Finale to the Showing Season for Team Sutcliffe



With the soggy start to September we really didn’t know what to expect on Westmorland County Show day but as usual smiles abounded despite the downpour. This is a fantastic one day show firmly routed in its agricultural heritage. Once again livestock entries were up and despite the mud public support was strong.

The show has now been adopted by the British Pig Association, although I am not sure what difference it will make as it is always very well run by the stewards anyway. Possibly the classes will be better with more breed classes available.

John managed to get all but one of his 30 plus entries to the show. A mixture of Saddlebacks, Hampshires, Oxford, Sandy and Blacks and a British Lop. He took breed champion in all breeds but the British Lop. We then waited for the rain to stop and the judges to return from lunch for the Supreme Show Champion to be selected.

We were all delighted when his July Saddleback gilt, Coal Yeat Babble, ably shown by granddaughter Imogen took the title. It was a fitting end to the season for John and his grand children, Imogen and Harry, who have worked really hard this year and it has been reflected in the number of rosettes and silverware that adorns Lowick House. They will need a rota for the polishing!

We too had a good day. Our six year old British Lop sow, just weaned, took champion in our section, with the July British Lop gilt reserve.

It was good to see more schools bringing their children to the show again. I remember visiting the show as a child with school. I think sometimes schools are rather sceptical when we ask for days off to take our children to the shows thinking it is just a jolly but it was good to see Imogen escorting her head teacher around the pigs and imparting her knowledge. I hope she was suitably impressed with both Imogen and Harry’s commitment and hard work they demonstrated during the day!

So, show season over for 2011, we are now looking at our July litters to see if we have any potential for 2012!

For those of you thinking of showing next year we will be running our showing weekend again in March.

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