Day Four Royal Welsh Show

It's been another exciting, action- packed day here at the Royal Welsh

Show, and packed with visitors as well. Yesterday over 70,000 came

through the gates, so at this rate, the records for day attendance

figure could well be broken. For me today has been one of extremes with

guinea-pigs petite and groomed to perfection, and the Supreme Horse

Championship, a perfect demonstration of grace and power in

the main ring. For me it has been all about the

sheep as I got caught up in the frenzy that is be all nations open

shearing competition and met the person who won the prize for the

best stockman this year. I came down to see if the axe men

can cut the shearers down to size in the new competition to test

their skills against the clock. And it is my opportunity to catch up

with my adopted family, the Davises, If you are a sheep breeder, there

is one title you aspire to, the sheep champion of champions, and

that competition was held at the end of the day here yesterday. Last

year, that honour went to a very surprised Dean and Neil Radnor with

their health Radnor Ram, Basil. It was such an achievement for you

to win here last year with your Hill Radnor. What has it meant you?

It has just been absolutely amazing. We have done really well with

selling I used thanks to the show, and we have had people ringing up

all the time wanting to buy sheep - - hour you was. A home-bred sheet

means so much more, it is the culmination of a long time of

trying to breed a good sheep, and part there must admit the breeding

of the sheep and the work of organising things is down to my

mother, and without her I would not be able to carry on, she is

brilliant. Unfortunately she is not well at the moment. We wish her

well. Do you think you could win here or is it -- again or is it

wants and lifetime? Anyone who comes here on a Sunday evening with

sheep, the quality of all stock here, there is no way anyone would

be big-headed enough to think they would win. To get a ribbon on its

own in this show is a big achievement but champion of

champions a dream come true. didn't make the final this year but

have you enjoyed it? I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

In this competition that Howard -- champion of the native upland and

lowland breeds and continentals go With a short list of the ruler

speckled face, Welsh mule and Charolais, the local judge from

Llandrindod Wells went for the Charolais. Bred by Bruce and Gregor

Many congratulations. We just heard them say the best she'd been there

will die here, and you will reign supreme. Thanks very much. It is a

great show and I am delighted to win it. A -- the best she put in

the world are here. The Royal Welsh is all about competition and

finding the best, but this year is a brand new competition pitting two

of the most unlikely competitors against one another, for this is

where the axe men meet the sheep shearers.

The axe men can cut through a lock in 20 seconds, the same time it

takes the Shearer to shear sheep so competition is fierce. Let's meet

Whose idea was this? It is something they tried at Kington

show last year and has developed from there. One lock against one

man, the fastest wins. Who will win? All: We will! Keeping score

during the competition is a rare What is it like watching these

people? You have trained them. of these guys chopping started off

with me. Here we go. It is neck- and-neck. Here we go! What a race!

This will be an amazing time! shearers are a little in front here.

That puts a Dev 1-1. It was all jokes in the dressing room, but now

all, the gloves are off. The axe men are in front at the moment. Who

will it be? It is down to the Mail, whoever wins this wins the match.

Two rows left, one left, this is incredible, neck and neck in this

competition. It is the shearers Still to come into night's

programme, we find out who has been awarded top honours in the Tom and

sprightly competition to select the best Welsh pony or copper in the

show, and find out what it takes to be awarded the prize for best stock

One thing you can't miss here at the Royal Welsh Show is the young

As well as competing at the show, the Young Farmers do a lot of good

work in their communities raising lots of money for charity. One man

doing his bit over the next few months as he takes on a demanding

personal challenge is the YFC chairman, Dylan Jones, or PC, as he

is known. -- beefy. I am the Wales YFC chairman and have become very

attached to my bike of the last few months. My name is Aled Jones and I

am his friend, I have put my name forward to do the bike ride with

him. We have been training over the last few months, building up

We are currently doing around 40-50 miles a week. I had been training

harder my bike over the last few months and will be taking full

advantage of my position as YFC chairman this year to raise money

for charity. Over the next few months I will cycle around Wales,

500 mile ride which I had to do in stages calling in all 12 YFC County

Federation offices and they're HQ at the Royal Welsh Show Ground. I

have got to know the local roads very well over the last few months

and I can't think of a better place to train, so I hope I will be

super-fit in time to reach the challenge. It may be hard to

believe but he is fitter than he was at the start. How has your week

been at the Young Farmers Club? is very tiring but it has been a

fantastic week, loads of competitions throughout the weekend

members competing, enjoying themselves Cup, various activities,

it has been fantastic. That looks like hard work. I am only starting

but it's not too hard but I tried to slots this week to keep my

figures up. Do you think you'll get support from the different groups

on route? I am confident that people will come with me when they

have a bike, I am looking forward to loads of support. You need all

the support he can get, really. THEY LAUGH. In this weather, I will

leave the hard work to you. Of all horses enter that the Royal

Welsh, and there are over 3000, but show has a soft spot for Welsh

ponies and cops. They dominate the main ring here for much of the show

and are rewarded on Thursday. -- Welsh ponies and cops. There has

special competition for them, the Tom & Sprightly Award. It is given

in memory of Tom Jones Evans of the Craven Stud and his prize-winning

Pernille Grove Sprightly. They dominated the competition for many

years from 1930-39, only missing 1937 due to the fact that Tom was

judging the competition to give others a chance.

The this is always a closely fought contest, and one family who have

come very close to winning a cup of time -- times are the Davies family

from St Giles Smith -- from St dock He is the team, Yvonne, Howell,

Heather, layer, Liberty and Bolivia. You have just missed out -- Leia,

Liberty and Olivia. Has it been a good week? Yes, we have been

consistent in every class, we have had a few thirds and fourths,

ponies we have bred and done well, that have been sold to other people

which is good, and yes, quite happy all round. You have been coming to

the show a long time, how all. is good to see the youngsters

coming around now or to carry everything on. To see their

grandchildren must be good. Yes. Leah, a you did very well. Are you

proud? Yes. You must be very proud of her, Heather. Really pleased,

really proud of how the pony went, they boasted good. We look forward

to seeing you all next year. they boasted good. You are an

important part of the team. Well And this morning, they were

competing again with this section the Pony Telynau Firefly. The judge

took time to judge the 19 ponies -- In the Tom & Sprightly Award it was

close run with four excellent ponies competing. In the end, it

was the Welsh cob that came out on top, taking the title of Tom &

At the end of a show like this, not everyone will leave with the

coveted red card, but they is one last chance to shine at the show,

the award for the best beef stock ban. The purpose of the competition

is twit -- encourage stock meant to achieve a high standard of

presentation for their cattle, and this year's judges Alwyn Jones from

Denbighshire. What are you looking for? The best stock nine lines and

presentation and welfare of animals is a priority -- stop known lines.

Also, speaking with the competitors, and the overall effect of the herd,

but also of the breed. The stock men and women deserve a lot of

praise for turning the animals out like this and keeping them under

control in the ring as well. Yes, and there is a lot of background

work. When they are out there, that is when you see a lot of work in

the background has happened. People here are always with the stock,

Al Wyn Jones, I think this is what you call sleeping on the job.

he is in with the stock, he has an desert them -- deserted them.

doesn't lose points? No. He had to remain anonymous while judging and

after days of walking around looking carefully at all the

exhibitors in the cattle lines, he I know you will not divulge the

results, we have to wait for the presentation. I hope my head has

And the winners, they were from Whitland in Carmarthenshire. It is

the beef Stockman's competition that is his stock women. It is

fantastic, we were the only all- woman team to win it, so fantastic,

go goals! Absolutely! -- go girls. It may be just a few days until the

Olympics in London. Here some chose their teams to compete at the show

weeks ago. Jack James has a squad of 12 guinea pigs to compete in the

Fur and Feather pavilion, while his granddaughter Natasha has carefully

selected her team of four. But there's a lot of work to do before

the stars arrive at The Royal Welsh. I've picked my team to go to The

Royal Welsh six, seven weeks ago. But I do not start bathing them

until about five or six days before the show. I bath them before the

show for the simple reason that their coat sits back tidy then and

then we give them a little bit of extra special stuff and yeah, and

when they go from here they like a bottle. Never seen anything like it

before. He looks after them while he -- he looks after them well,

treats them well and spoils them. If my guinea pigs are not well, I

sperpblly think that the dedication use they use. I use it any way and

it hasn't done them no harm. A guinea pig has got to have vitamin

C, cabbage, celery, ables, carrots. They've got to have tidy food

otherwise it's not worth the time. He's up here 24/7 every day of the

week. Natasha will be competing next year, but I'll have to look

out for that because she might be beating me! Well Jack and Natasha

here we are at the royal wash show with the guinea pigs. The coats are

beautifully glossy. What is your secret, how do you preb them?

can't give secrets away. I honestly can't. Natasha how did your

interest start, was it watching grandpa? Yeah that was how it

startd. One day he bought me one for myself. Yes. We wish you the

very best of luck. We'll come back later and see how you've done.

Jack and Natasha, it's been a long day judging. How did you get on?

happen to have the reserve Best in Show and I also had the best smooth

coated guinea pig. That's fantastic. What but Jack? I had nothing.

Nothing? Only a few first cards. Aahhh. Natasha has done better than

you? I'll have to do something better than I'm doing now. She's

had a good teacher. I tried my best. Well done for taking part. We leek

forward to seeing both next year. Thank you.

I have had the most fantastic week. I've had an opportunity to see

behind-the-scenes here at The Royal Welsh. I've prepared some of the

best dairy cows in Europe. All of this has been possible because of

the Davies family from Whitland. Thank you so much. You must have

been so stressed and yet you were so very kind to me. I hope I didn't

get under your feet too much? no, no. It has been a very

stressful couple of weeks getting to the show. But it's paid off well

for us. I think from that first night you helped us and you managed

to catch that poo out of the cow, that was a good stepping stone for

a successful week. I'd love to believe that was true. I'm sure I

had no influence on you getting red carded. You need a good time behind

you really. We had a great week. We came with four animals. We've had

three first prizes. Champion as well. We've had a fantastic week.

All thanks to your help. What happens next? Start looking forward

to the next show, Pembrokeshire in about three weeks. Get ready to do

it all again. What about next year? We hope to go back here again next

year. It's a fantastic event. It's an honour to be part of this show.

There's so much good work going on across the show ground. To be

successful here in front of all the people really is really is a truly

tremendous feeling. Well, congratulations both once again and

thank you so much. Thank you. you very much.

Here at The Royal Welsh show it's the shearing that's the most

gruelling of sports. Yesterday we went along to watch the Open all

The shearers come from Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland,

France, Australia, New Zealand, in fact, anywhere there are sheep, to

battle it out for the title of all nations shearing champion. One man

tipped to do the Welsh proud is Richard Jones. He's been competing

at the same level as Gareth Daniel, last year's champion. The sheep are

ready, are you? Nearly. Nearly ready, hopefully. Do you get

nervous? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Especially at The Royal Welsh. There's a lot

of people watching. It's a big event here. How do you control the

nerves then snfrplgts you just try to forget about the people watching

and just concentrate. You represented Wales in New Zealand

earlier this year at the golden shears, how did that go? Very well.

We were third as a team u, me and Gareth. I was eighth overall. I was

pleased with that. Luck. Unfortunately Richard was knocked

out of the all nations in the semi- finals and although he showed a

promising performance he didn't match up to the standard of the

other shearers on the day. Richard, I heard you described here as a

lean, mean shearing machine, how has the day been? Excellent. I've

had a good day. I qualified to shear for Wales in the Test and

made the final championship of Wales. Congratulations. It was a

joy to watch. Thank you very much. This is it, the open all nations

final. Richard Jones didn't make the final this year, but we have

got six of the world's top shearers. Now is this the one they want to

win? Yes, of course. As you can see there's only two Welshmen through,

Gareth Daniels and Ian Jones. Johnny Kay and Dave Vegan. It's

between Ian Jones and the veteran, David Fagan from New Zealand.

That's correct. It looks like Dave has taken the lead. Nobody will

There he goes. David Fagan comes off first.

Ian Jones! APPLAUSE

Johnny KirkPatrick. I'd like to present the Open All Nations

Champion at The Royal Welsh this year David Fagan. You're

unstoppable. What's the secret? secret. I'm happy to teach anyone

what I do. It's about enjoying it and if you really enjoy it and

you're determined and all those things, just have some fun while

you're doing it. No sign of retiring yet? No, I'll just fade

away slowly. Over the years the show has come up with a number of

competitions to recognise the winners in the various horse

sections. But this year, for the first time, there are two new

supreme championships. One for the ridden horses and one to choose the

supreme horse. So the ridden champion winner and the in-hand

winner will go head to head for the supreme title. Judging these three

prestigious competitions is Mrs Jean Jones of Newtown. This must be

an enormous responsibility, but a great honour. Very much so.

difficult is it going to be for you to choose a win frer all those

different types of horse? It will be difficult, but I'm hoping it

won't be too bad. It will be whatever takes my eye. I've usually

picked which one. Loads won't agree, but I'll do my best. Good luck.

Lovely to speak to you. I'm looking forward to it. A busy moment for

you. Oh, gosh yes. I'll let you go into the main ring. We'll watch

with interest. Thank you. I'm joined ringside now by Ron

Thomas one of the best known producers of Welsh ponies and

horses in Wales. This is the start of the ridden championship, it's

really been interesting so far. A brand new championship this year?

Yes quite interesting and it looks a very good competition actually.

It's, I think it's nice and rewarding that they all get

together and then let them decide, let Mrs Jones decide who is the

So no result yet from the ridden championship. But Mrs Jones has

moved on to the supreme in-hand in-hand championship was Delilah,

exhibited by his daughter. They are competent, capable people and

they'll carry on the tradition as long as possible hopefully. Then I

think the Welsh ponies are safe as long as you have people like -

the ridden champion and the in-hand champion will go up head to head

horse championship at The Royal Welsh show.

Definitely a deserved one. Good girl, hard worker. The supreme

overall champion is material girl. Ridden by Olivia Bowen. She rides

exceled itself yet again, in fact, it's been a record year with over

240,000 people attending this 240,000 people attending this

year's show. There have been many unforgettable moments, but for me,

it was a particular pleasure to be invited into the main ring

commentary box to speak to Charles Arch who is retiring after 35 years

of main-ring commentating. He's been a great servant to the show.

His voice is synonymous to the many exciting competitions. For me it

was catching up with the Nicholas family with rag Lynn to see them

win the supreme pig championship. For me working with the Davies

family and showing their prize dairy cows. That's all for now.

Don't forget our hour-long highlights programme Monday evening

at 7pm. If you watch to catch up with the programmes remember

there's always the BBCi player and you can see photos from the show

and share your own on the BBC summer in Wales Facebook page.

That's it from us for this evening, and indeed for this year. We'll

leave you now with some of those who have made this yet again a very

special Royal Welsh Show fr. All of # Dragon fly out in the sun, you

know what I mean, don't you know # Butterflies all having fun, you

know what I mean # You know how I feel

# Scent of the pine, you know how I feel

# Oh, freedom is mine and I know how I feel