Herd Competition awarded to Nash herd

The judges for this year's competition were Willem van Beele and Susie Woods, owners of the well-known Herouldmede herd, based in north Herefordshire. Their travels took them to visit thirteen entries reaching from the West of Wales, over to Norfolk in the East, and up the country to Yorkshire, all within June and July.

Susie says: "The standard of the herds was very high despite a great variation of grazing pastures which were very interesting and diverse, from paddock to river meadow, and even in the current drought the cattle were doing amazingly well. We were impressed with the overall confirmation of the cattle and all herds had good selection of healthy, strong calves at foot. Where breeders were finishing their own stock, we were taken with the the uniform sizing of the cattle that we saw, which just confirms to us the breed's efficiency for feed conversion, whatever their growing conditions."

Willem and Susie wished to thank all of the herds that took part in the competition and we congratulate the winners of each section as follows:

Small herd – Rhydri, Gill and Andrew Crow

Medium herd – Nash, John and Pam King

Large herd – Cow Hall, Joy Greenall and Mark Measures

Plus a special congratulation to the overall winner which is the Nash herd, based in Buckinghamshire and bred by John and Pam King, described by Willem and Susie as "a closed herd defined by their dedication to the breed and continued work to produce excellent breeding cows and calves."

GALLERY