The 24th Northern Expo Holstein Show
08/09/06

The Northern Expo Holstein Show in it’s 24th year is largely seen as one of the main events in the dairy calendar and is once again scheduled to take place in Carlisle’s Borderway Mart at the end of October in what is now established as a national autumn show fixture.

With twenty-five classes and special awards and a Grand Champion prize of £500 up for grabs the progressive show committee anticipates an entry of again over 100 entries at this, the second largest Holstein Show in the UK.

The show is an evening event (with free entry to the show) in order to allow farmers and businesses to finish chores before attending along with having the added appeal to the young Holstein enthusiasts it is staged in the school half term.

The evening kicks off at 6pm, with class one for calves to be born on or after 1st December 2005 – to be led by a handler aged under 16 years, class two for calves born between 1st August 2005 and 30th November 2005 and class three for Maiden heifers born between 1st April 2005 and 30th November 2005.

The Calf Championship will be judged after these three classes. It is surely worth a mention that on introducing an award for the champion calf in 2005, forty entries were received for this section of the show alone. Following on from the champion calf presentation will be class three, for heifers in calf, class four, will be for cows in calf followed by class six being the Best animal on Production and Inspection.

Class seven will be the in milk heifer class (split between junior’s and senior’s) then comes the Genetic Merit award, Junior Championship and Exhibitor Bred Junior Championship. Class eight sees the commencement of the cow in milk classes starting with Junior cow in milk (having calved twice), class nine, Intermediate cow in milk (having calved three times) followed by class ten, Senior cow in milk (having calved more than four times). Following these classes will be the Breeders Pair, Best Udder in show, Best Exhibitor Bred Animal and Best New Exhibitor (not to have shown at Northern Expo In the last five years).

Just before the grand finalethe presentations and prizes will be awarded to the Premier Breeder (Breeder with most points in the show) and Premier Exhibitor (Exhibitor with most points in the show). Following these sought after awards will be the moment everyone is waiting for as all the 1st and 2nd prize class winners grace the ring once again to the buzz of excitement as the judge taps his GRAND CHAMPION, Reserve Grand Champion and Honourable Mention of the 2006 Northern Expo Holstein Show.

Awards are then presented to the handlers of the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion. Of particular interest surely to exhibitors is that this one day show awards prizes to tenth place with animals awarded the prestigious titles receiving £500 for the Grand Champion, £250 Reserve Champion £150 Honourable Mention and £150 to the Junior Champion. The Grand Champion will also receive free stall entry into Agriscot.

This year’s event at Harrison & Hetherington’s Borderway Mart, Carlisle, on Friday October 27th - the 24th show – is once again sure to attract an impressive line-up of cattle from an estimated thirty plus exhibitors. Indeed the quality of cattle and popularity of the event have been such that The Farmers Guardian, Holstein UK, Carrs Agriculture and Semen World Ltd are once again proud to be on board as the major show sponsors.

To judge this eagerly awaited fixture is Paul Miller a member of the family run farm “Shanael” Holsteins. At Shanael the Miller’s currently milk 150 cows and are expanding to 200 plus. They have invested in a new dairy facility and are confident that they have a bright future in dairy farming. The Shanael herd’s current milk average is 10,000 litres at 3.90% fat and 3.20% protein.

Paul is very enthusiastic in the breeding of Holstein Cows and is strongly involved in the show ring with his best result being Champion Cow at the National Holstein Show with Shanael Leader Marie. Pauls most recent achievement in the show ring was Junior Champion at this years National with Shanael Gibson Amanda.

Paul has been involved with Holstein cows all his life and now finds it a privilege to be asked to Judge shows such as the Calf Show Qualifiers, the Western Calf Show, South Wales and Lancashire to name a few.

This year Paul has been asked to Judge three Qualifiers, Devon, East Midlands and Midlands and will also be judging the Southern Ireland showmanship final and said “I am looking forward to Judging the Northern Expo as I know that it is a fantastic show with High quality animals”.

website: www.holstein-expo.co.uk

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