The Dairy Event and Livestock Show 2009
The last DFE was held at Stoneleigh on Wednesday and Thursday at which I represented EGCS under the umbrella of the Centre for Dairy Information (CDI) on the Holstein UK stand. In 2006 when that opportunity was first available the Jersey, Swiss and Montbeliarde as well as the British Friesian Breeders Club all had space and we were able to display our Guernsey iinformation. This year however the other breed societies had taken their own trade stand space and I felt that I was the “invisible” man quite difficult you would think given my height and girth. I recieved not a single enquiry about Guernseys over the two days, although there were several EGCS members at the show who I was able to speak to.
The other breeds including Red Poll and MRI plus most of the Beef Breeds had a presence in most cases with examples of their breed or with cross bred progeny and obviously see a need to be there at what remains the largest gathering of Dairy Farmers annually.
The competitive cattle Ayrshire, British Friesian, Brown Swiss, Holstein, Jersey and Shorthorn were as good as I can remember and I have attended every show at Stoneleigh since the move from Olympia in 1970.
The show moves to the NEC next year and there is a lot of speculation as to how cows will fit into those palatial halls but the good news is that the next event scheduled at the NEC is the Waste Management Association show, so presumably they should no what to do with the inevitable muck!