Royal Welsh Winter Fair just weeks away

With just a fortnight to go until the showground in Llanelwedd is full of visitors, exhibitors and superb livestock, preparations for the 30th Royal Welsh Winter Fair are coming together well.

This year’s Winter Fair will be held on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 November.

First staged in 1990 and originally just a modest one-day event, the Royal Welsh Winter Fair is now widely referred to as the finest prime stock show in Europe and has become well established as one of the most popular attractions on the British agricultural show calendar.

With thousands of cattle, sheep, pigs and horses entries and over £25,000 in prize money on offer, the stakes are set for a great couple of days’ worth of competitions.

This year’s event will be officially opened by Mr David Phillips, a beef and sheep farmer from Windsor Farm, Lamphey, Pembroke.

David is the third generation of his family to farm in Windsor, where he farms in partnership with his wife Ruth and his son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Jane. The fifth generation, David’s grandson Eddie, is nurtured in the same farming tradition.

The Windsor Farm enterprise comprises of 1,200 acres of prime Pembrokeshire agricultural land at a maximum altitude of 150ft above sea level. The main enterprises comprise of 3,000 lowland Suffolk x Scottish mule ewes. The ewes are housed in December and fed on a TMR system pre lambing. All lambs are creep fed, hoping that the lambs would catch the early premium market. David also runs a 60 head suckler herd, with foundation stock coming from show cattle. 120 acres of forage maize is grown for on farm use with the surplus being sold on to local dairy farms.

David belongs to the Cleddau Grassland Society and has won many grassland and crop competitions. David is a prominent member of The Pembroke Farmers Club with their annual one-day show held on Windsor Farm for the last 49 years.

David and his family continue to improve the Limousin suckler herd and are very successful at the county and local shows and continue to be faithful and loyal exhibitors and buyers at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair.

The family are staunch supporters and members of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society and have been instrumental in raising funds for the society during Pembrokeshire’s year as feature county. David is a true to form livestock farmer and stockman held in high regard by his peers.

The opening ceremony will be held upstairs in the International Pavilion at the slightly earlier time of 10.30am on Monday 25 November.

Following the official opening will be the presentations of the John Gittins Memorial Award, the RWAS Oxford Farming Conference Bursary and the Nuffield Farming Scholarship.

Along with the usual packed schedule of competitions, classes, exhibitions and displays the two-day event will be packed full of festive celebrations including free late night shopping and a fireworks display on the Monday evening.

Away from the judging rings the very best Welsh food producers showcase their produce and Christmas shoppers will be able to explore hundreds of tradestands, demonstrations, exhibitions and displays.

Buy your e-tickets for the Winter Fair online now. For more information visit www.rwas.wales