Episode 3 Royal Welsh Show

200,000 people from all over the world.

8,000 animals of all shapes and sizes, 150 acres

Welcome to the biggest and best agricultural show in Europe.

It's day three and the most eagerly anticipated day

of the show because this is Welsh Cob Day,

and some of the most beautiful horses you will see will do battle

for one of the show's most prestigious prizes.

You also have hounds, and the sheepdogs will show off their

And no Welsh line-up would be complete without Gareth Wyn Jones.

I'm back amongst the cattle for the big competition,

the team of five, when even the judges will be judged.

And comedian Omar Hamdi has been burning the midnight oil.

I guess these guys will get a much better night's sleep than me

because I'm not going to bed, I'm going offsite after dark.

And you can keep up with the action of the show.

A lot of the farmers who come here treat it

But it's something of a Busman's holiday.

And this could be called the farmers' toy department.

You can find machines that will almost do all the work for you.

On first view, it looks like a tractor that has

It's all different tractors for different causes.

This is 200 horsepower and is designed to steer itself.

You have this yellow dome connected to the top.

It will steer itself to an accuracy of two centimetres.

Will the day arrive that you could be sitting in your living

room watching TV with a computer game and letting your

The days of levers and linkages are going.

Everything is controlled by this computer screen.

Extraordinary, and could you watch a movie if you wanted to?

All you need now is a butler and a fridge.

We can't do anything about the butler, but we do

If there was a tractor that could do housework, I might be tempted!

It turns out it's not just animals that can win prizes here.

You're the machinery prizewinner at the Royal Welsh Show this year.

We did have a nice big shiny trophy, but we had to give it back.

We only had it for half an hour, it was very nice.

Let's talk about this winning piece of equipment.

This is a front-end loader and it goes on the front

But I happen to know there are plenty of front loaders

that go on the front of tractors, so what makes this prize-winning?

We're really honoured to get this prize.

This product is the culmination of five years and ?30

The key to that was trying to develop something

for the future that saves the farmer money and improves

That sounds like it definitely deserves a prize.

From a spectacular front-loader to somebody with an awful lot

The horses here come in all different shapes and sizes -

Whilst there are all kinds of horses to be seen here,

the show is best known for being the ultimate showcase

The smallest of these is the Welsh Section A,

Section C, Welsh pony of cob type is next.

Section D, the Welsh cob, is the Welsh largest section - strong

They take centre stage at the Royal Welsh Show on Wednesday.

Showing his Welsh cobs today is Jonathan,

Jonathan, a massive day for the cobs today.

We have all the mares and the stallions, which will

The Main Ring will be five deep waiting for the cob stallions.

The mares are a very big spectacle and some of the best will be

she contracted a very bad virus within her stomach

and she was due to be sold but because of illness,

she was not allowed because she was not well enough

to go to the sales and she stayed at home, and we have been very

The last three years, she has competed at the Royal Welsh Show

We all love her so much, she has put us on the map.

The show everybody wants to win is the Royal Welsh Show.

Fantastic, and really good luck to you today.

Jonathan, you have just come out of the Main Ring, how did it go?

Fantastic, she was fourth out of 45 mares, fantastic entry

of mares, very pleased with the result.

It takes a lot to exhibit a successful Welsh cob

and a lot to be a judge, as today's Judge Daniel Morgan

Kate went to meet him before the show.

When you see a Welsh cob in action, you understand why they are such

It takes decades of experience to produce an animal like this.

I feel like I'm in the presence of The Queen!

This is Gorgeous Lady, she is seven years of age.

For Daniel Morgan, breeding cobs is in his blood.

Yes, since I was that small, I have seen them.

It is a quintessentially Welsh animal.

Yes, it is, it has got to be beautiful, eye-catching.

And the presence of the animal when she goes into the ring,

or the stallion goes into the ring, captivates you straightaway.

And they do have this wonderful physical presence, don't they?

Looking at the shape of her, it feels like it's all about power.

Yes, she has a wide chest and a good quarter as well.

Daniel is the third generation of his family to judge at the show

and he told me that looks aren't everything, it's also

That was quite an acrobatic display, have you got your breath back?

This is The Queen of the Park, she's 24 years of age now.

She has had her coat again this year and...

A beautiful, elegant animal, and I could not resist taking

I might need to go and have a little lie down.

That was an unforgettable day, and someone who has had

an unforgettable night is Omar Hamdi.

As you can see, the show is well and truly over for another night,

but I have heard there are a lot of people who will be here late

until the early hours, I am going to find them.

It is gone midnight and all the cattle sort of are falling

asleep and a lot of farmers are around them having a party.

I thought they would be fully asleep by now,

They are settled and chilled out and relaxing.

Last year, we had a great time, the year before that, we had a great

So what does this mean to people like you who are regular showgoers?

It is a holiday for me, it is not just for farmers,

We will all be up until about four o'clock and away we go.

I will be sleeping with her tonight, just checking everything goes

It is unbelievable how comfortable that animal and that person

We will catch up with Omar's night-time adventure later,

but I am in the food hall in search of Gareth Wyn Jones.

Now, I thought I was the grandest person you knew!

Apparently, that is not so, you have been hobnobbing with royalty.

I went to meet the Prince of Wales, Kate.

We had a long chat about local produce and traditional ways

of farming and he was just so supportive.

I offered him some of my lamb, do you know what he said?

Young man, send me some of that mutton down!

The Royals, as you know, have had a long association

There is nobody from the Royal Family here this year,

but it is not called the Royal Welsh Show

There has been a Royal connection with the show since 1907,

when George Prince of Wales agreed to become the patron.

The George Prince of Wales Cup is still a coveted prize today,

awarded for the best Welsh cob at the show.

King Edward VII was also a regular visitor to the early shows,

competing with his Hereford cattle, although he often left

It would take until 1922 until the Welsh Show was awarded

Royal patronage and became the Royal Welsh Show.

Thw 1947 Royal Welsh at Carmarthen welcomed a young Princess Elizabeth

for the first time and The Queen remains the patron today.

Since the show settled in its permanent home

at Builth Wells in 1963, the Royal family have

The Royal Welsh Show brings people together -

royalty, landowners, farm owners, tenants and farm

workers, coming together to celebrate agriculture and rural

Still to come: We've got a beauty contest for cattle.

Omar braves the Young Persons' Village.

And we find out which Welsh cob trots away with today's prize.

Somebody else who hasn't just made his family proud,

but the whole Welsh country, is Kevin, who came second

in the World Sheepdog Trials in Holland last week.

That looked like a very efficient round, Kevin, will you win today?

But things went well and we are just waiting for the judges.

Being on the world stage, as you were last week,

We travelled to Holland and there were 240 of the best dogs

in the world and I was lucky to come second.

I know you are a border collie man and most people when they think

of herding dogs they picture these lovely, little, spry dogs.

But most herding nations have their own indigenous herding

dogs and I have to say, and I know Kevin disagrees,

that the Welsh sheepdog is amongst the finest.

It is the most beautiful partnership between human

and animal that I know, but four years ago I would

never, ever have dreamt that I could do this.

There is one person who has really helped me get my head around

For farmer Adeline Jones no other breed can compare

They have got a history that goes back hundreds of years.

The other is that they are immensely practical.

You can work with sheep or cattle or pigs.

What is it that actively makes these dogs Welsh sheepdogs?

It is the fact they are upright on their feet and they are very

mobile and they can be vocal and not that stalking, fixed stare

I know you have got some young dogs here today.

Can we have a look at them showing off?

I would love to show them off, but I cannot necessarily tell

That is the other thing about the Welsh collie.

Is it Saffy, the little young black and white one?

She will turn in with her mouth, but she is not biting.

They look like they are enjoying themselves and having a good time.

But seeing Welsh sheepdogs work like this is still a rare sight.

At one stage the breed was close to dying out.

When the society was started, 20 years ago in 1997, they found 66

Now we have got just about 2500 which we have bred over 20 years.

But as far as farmers are concerned, these are really good,

Certainly, I would not be without them.

They are just very special working dogs.

The Welsh Sheepdog Society celebrates its 20th anniversary this

year and it is thanks to its work that these wonderful dogs

will remain a feature of this rural landscape for many

The show is an enormously important social event for farmers of all ages

and when darkness falls there is just one place to be

and that is the Young People's village, as Omar discovered.

I didn't know exactly what that meant, the Young People's Village.

It is a village in the middle of nowhere devoted to young people

Scott, you are here at the Royal Welsh.

This is one of my favourite gigs that I do all year.

I do a lot of freshers' gigs, students all the year-round,

but this is literary travelling miles and it takes about four

hours and you get around the corner and it is all here.

What is it that keeps drawing you back year after year?

It is the energy of the crowd, it is 5000 young people.

You can play anything and they love it, it is a proper party crowd.

Omar, I am impressed, you have gone native.

It was brilliant, I was drinking a lot of coffee but it was amazing.

I was on stage DJing with Scott Mills, it

And the first time ever at the show, did it change your expectations?

Yes, it did, I like goats more than I thought I would.

Do you think you will be back next year?

Definitely, I have already booked it.

Thank you for being with us and undertaking that midnight mission.

One of the most unusual competitions is the team of five.

One of the highlights of the show for me every year

is this competition, the beef cattle team of five.

The breed judge chooses the five best matching animals

It is from all the entries at the show and not all

This is a real clash of the Titans and someone who is an expert in this

To make a team it is important there is at least one male or one

female in the group, so you could have a combination

of four females and one male, or four males and one female

It is up to the breed judge to match these and this

It must be even and that is what happened when the three judges

It is not a question of individual animals, it is the team.

There are a lot of cattle here at the moment.

There are 75 animals here representing 15 breeds

which we are glad to see, but we have also got our native

We have also got the beef shorthorns and they go back to 1882.

We have also got the Continental cattle in here which are represented

It will be exciting to watch this climax.

Everybody will be on their toes towards the end.

It is a very hard job, but he will line them up at the end

and get them down to eight and then down to four groups and then down

to two groups and then he will decide the champions

and the reserve and that will be our climax today.

He has already picked four teams and he will select his champion

This is really exciting and there is a massive crowd here.

We have just come to the climax and the Charolais have won it

It is like winning the World Cup in Rugby.

This is such a popular competition where the crowd and the atmosphere

When the winner is announced a mare called Trevelyan Rosanna,

My goodness, something tells me this might be the winning corner.

Can you tell me what has just happened?

Nelson has won it and he is a lifelong friend and everybody loves

him. And now it is time to meet

the winner of the George And here she is,

our triumphant winner and triumphant breeder,

Nelson. Congratulations, she

is a beautiful mare. Our dams produced several champions

and when she was born and she was a foal, I knew

she was going to be The looks, the way she moved,

everything about her. What we did, at Christmas I gave it

to him as a Christmas present, that was his Christmas present,

Dean, his mare, and he is the owner. And you did all the hard work

and the running around in the ring. When you are on a stage like this

at the Royal Welsh Show, It feels like you are floating,

like it is not real. When you came out here today,

did you have any sense that you might be walking away with one

of the most important prizes of the whole

of the Royal Welsh Show? We always thought she was good

enough to win it, and when Grandad gifted it to me he said she would be

good enough to win I am absolutely delighted

for all of you. Do you think her foal can

be a future champion? I think she will, you will see

her at a future show. Watch this space, this could be

a future winner of the George, Let's now go to some

of our other winners from today. # Lightning, this

is what you came for. # Lightning strikes

every time she moves. # And she is looking

cool, cool, cool. # Lightning, this is what you came

for. # Lightning, strikes every time she

# Lightning, strikes every time she moves.

# And she is looking cool, cool, cool, cool.

That is all we have got time for today but we will be back

tomorrow for the fourth and final day.

I am up at the sheep shearing shed and we have got

a fantastic competition between New Zealand and Wales.

I will be meeting some goats who seriously have a hairstyle

to compete with mine and fabulous foodie Andi Oliver will be

raiding the food hall and putting up a storm.

the food hall and cooking up a storm.