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Despite the cold weather It has been a fantastic Winter Fair with such a friendly atmosphere. It was a pleasure to be on the show ground and great to hear that the prices in the auction were very respectable. In my opinion this event has grown not only to be the most important of it's kind in Britain, but in the whole of Europe showcasing Welsh produce at it's very best.

Video clips sof all the highlights will appear on this website tomorrow, so come back soon!

It has been a fantastic day in the Winter Fair, with the cold weather adding to the seasonal feeling. I have spent my day wandering the show ground, talking to many a character including some famous faces. The video clips will appear soon on the website, and also keep watching the two live streams only available on this website.

This year the Winter Fair will be held on the 29th and 30th of November 2010 and this will be Ceredigion's last event as the Feature County. The year has been exceptionally successful but I firmly believe that this will be the icing on the cake. Transferring the day's events on the television will be Nia Roberts, Ifan Jones Evans, Eleri Sion and Edward Tudor Jones with Evan Rowlands showcasing the best of the Showground for the website. This will be our first year of broadcasting live from 10am to 4pm on S4C.

As well as broadcasting live from the event, remember to watch Shan Cothi and the team highlighting the Fair's events on Monday and Tuesday evenings between 20.25 - 21.25.

The programmes will capture live competitions within the cattle, sheep, pigs, lamb carcass, hounds and poultry sections as well as visiting many of the stall holders. The standard in the Handicraft and Produce sections are always highly commendable and this year, due to the record number of entries, these sections will be staged in the Old Food Hall. And in the Food Hall the best of Welsh produce will be on display and available to buy.

The horse ring will be live throughout the day on our website in the comfortable hands of Wyn Gruffydd and David Oliver. Come back to the website Monday morning, links to the live feeds will be available on this page

If you have any stories please contact us in the Winter Fair or leave a message on the messageboard

I'll see you there

Joy

S4C will broadcast extensive and uninterrupted coverage of the 2010 Winter Fair from the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd on 28 and 29 November.

Throughout the day (10:00 until 16:00) S4C will present live coverage of the event. There will also be nightly highlights at 20:25, giving a taste of the atmosphere as well as the best of the day's events.

Nia Roberts, Shân Cothi, Ifan Jones Evans, Eleri Siôn and Edward Tudor Jones will be around the Showground taking in everything - from the cattle and sheep auctions to the nail-biting competitions in the cattle, sheep and horse rings. The team will also look at the crafts on offer, search for perfect Christmas gifts and taste the local produce in the Food Hall.

One person who is a regular visitor at the Winter Fair - ever since he was still in nappies - is Ifan Jones Evans. He remembers missing school to visit the event with his family. This year, he returns to present S4C's coverage for the second time.

"It's a great feeling to return and present the Winter Fair - the fair, the location and the people are all familiar to me - it's like going home. The event feels like the first step towards Christmas as Llanelwedd is transformed into a winter wonderland. The Winter Fair is more than an agricultural show, it's a Christmas show."


During the nightly highlights programmes, viewers can go behind-the-scenes in the competition rings to meet the characters, competitors, animals and stewards of the event.

Ifan adds, "Each year I look forward to the cattle auction to see how much the animals are being sold and how the price increases or decreases year on year. Cattle tend to sell extremely well and I think the record so far is around £12,000. With the price of beef on the rise over the past twelve months, it will be interesting to see whether the record will be broken this year.

"I'll definitely be available to taste test anything on offer in the Food Hall too! The produce is among the best in the world and of a very high standard. Events like these are Wales's shop window in agricultural terms allowing others to see what we have to offer. If anyone needs help with wine tasting, sampling Christmas puddings or the odd mince pie, come and find me!"

Viewers can watch the live feed and coverage of the horse ring online by visiting the S4C website - www.s4c.co.uk/ffairaeaf.

Y Ffair Aeaf
Monday and Tuesday 29 and 30 November, 10:00 - 16:00, S4C
Highlights programmes at 20:25, S4C
Website: s4c.co.uk/ffairaeaf
On demand: s4c.co.uk/clic
A Boomerang+ production for S4C

Travelling with the Young Farmers Club has always been an aspiration of mine. My chosen destination was Kenya because I wanted to experience life in a developing country. There are many destinations available for YFC members including New Zealand, Australia, America, Canada and many more. Travelling on the trip were 11 other YFC members, 5 from Wales and 7 from England.....

Read more and see the video clips

As Summer turns to Autumn, we can look back with fond memories to what has been a memorable Summer. The Royal Welsh Show 2010 was a huge success for all involved, with the vast number of visitors a testimony to the huge appeal of our national event. The quality of stock that were exhibited was again of the highest calibre, and despite the rains best efforts to cause some disruption, I'm sure that everyone who visited the showground will have left with warm memories.

From a personal point of view the shearing centre was the place to be. The excitement and atmosphere created by the large crowds, who fully appreciated the high standard and skill levels that were shown by the competitors was fantastic! The competitors themselves, who had travelled to Llanelwedd from all corners of the world fully appreciated the support and the hard work that had been put in by the organising committee, that ensured a great two days of competion in the Golden Shears. A special mention should go to the Welsh team, with every member excelling at the highest level.

The summer in general has not been a bad one for the farming industry within Wales. The warm and dry spells allowed farmers to gather enough harvest to hopefully see them through the winter ahead. Early indications are showing that cereal prices will be up significantly from last year, and with reports from abroad suggesting that yield levels are down, Welsh cereal farmers could be in for a good run. The meat trade is also looking favourable, with lamb prices increasing weekly. I have recently been in several ewe sales, where a high demand for replacement ewes has meant a very good trade, and as can be expected from Welsh ewe farmers, the quality of the animals has been very high. With the cull ewe trade also supporting the farmers, we can only hope that these trends continue throughout the winter.

As the commercial farmers continue to produce the finished lambs and beef animals for the weekly markets and abattoir trade, I'm sure the majority of us are once more thinking ahead to the welcoming two days at the Winter Fair on the showground. It can be argued that these two days are one of the best shop window that we have in Wales to advertise our home grown produce, from an industry that involves so many within our rural communities. There is a certain sense of pride within the exhibitors and visitors to the Winter Fair, and rightly so. The stockmen will have already chosen their entries, and the fun will have begun in taming and nurturing the prized steer or heifer ready for the class. The same goes for all exhibitors across all breeds and animal types. As well as the competing, the Fair offers an opportunity for businesses and institutions from Wales to meet their public and promote themselves. This can be seen within the food hall, the YFC competitions and the numerous other stands at the showground. Possibly the most important part of the two days is the opportunity it gives for family and friends to once more meet up and enjoy themselves in the warmth that is created by everyone involved in the Winter Fair.

Once more, S4C will be broadcasting from the Fair, and I am personally looking forward to one of my favourite events of the year.

I had the honour of commentating on the shearing competitions in this year's Royal Welsh and what a week it was! The Shearing Centre is always an exciting place but during the Golden Shears competition this year it was like being on the terrace of an international rugby match! The atmosphere was electric and the standard with the best I've ever seen. It was fantastic to see competitors from all over the world but Cam Ferguson from New Zealand showed his class by claiming the main prize. Congratulations also to Wales' Bronwen Tango on becoming the Golden Shears Wool handling World Champion. Remember that you can watch all of the competing on this website and on S4C Wednesday night 28 July at 9:00 - Y Sioe/10 - Pencampwriaeth Cneifio y Byd

Congratulations to Cam Ferguson of New Zealand - Golden Shears Individual Machine Champion 2010

View adjudication

View the final

Congratulations also to Bronwen Tango from Wales - Golden Shears Woolhandling World Champion 2010

View adjudication

View the final

Welcome to the first day of the Royal Welsh Show where the beef classes take centre stage. The Welsh Black and Charolais classes start the competing in the cattle ring. View all the action throughout the day on this website. Enjoy!

The stage is set and the animals and owners are in fine form eagerly awaiting Y Sioe to kick off tomorrow morning. You can watch the coverage live on this website from 8am onwards. Can't wait until the morning? Try our new game to keep you entertained throughout the week- Dal Diadell

The time is upon us, and the eyes of the world will be on Llanelwedd next week as the Golden Shears World Shearing Championships 2010 will be held at the showground.

Wales will welcome teams from 28 countries, from Spain to Japan and New Zealand to Serbia. 105 competitors will shear up to 2,000 sheep with over two days of exciting competition.

The competition started in 1977, but this is only the second time that Wales and the Royal Welsh have had the opportunity to host the prestigious event.

Each team can include up to 6 members - 2 shearing with machines, 2 with hand shears, and 2 wool handlers.

The RWAS office in Builth Wells has been extremely busy preparing for the event which will cost around £150,000 to stage. Thousands are expected to flock to the shearing shed to enjoy one of the biggest events in the world shearing calendar.

The competition will be held over 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) where the competitors start with two preliminary rounds, semi-final rounds and then the finals where the winner will be crowned Golden Shears Champion 2010

The competition will be intensive and the standard extremely high. Big names like David Fagan of New Zealand will be competing - who has won over 527 competitions all over the world. It also bodes well for the Welsh team which have had a very successful year after winning recently in Ireland. They clearly are at their best and are desperate to win the world championship on their home stage.

The shearing shed will be packed all week, with thousands watching and supporting, as well as large television screens to show each move! Good luck to Wales and a very warm welcome to the rest of the world to Builth.

With an open heart we welcome this wonderful day. The Welsh Cob originated from the Ceredigion county and it's wonderful to see so many of these old studs still breeding today and proves the breed will last forever.

Congratulations to all the breeders for their hard work in providing our nation and the Show with it's main attraction.

View video clip

View extended interview clips

This year the Youth Village is bigger than ever! It's an annual highlight for members of the organization and several exciting acts will be performing on the main stage.

The week starts with a bang on Sunday evening with Cowbois Rhos Botwnog and Tebog Piws taking to the stage. The Tuesday night foam party is always a highlight but this year it will be even more memorable as Radio 1 DJ Greg James will be entertaining the crowd

It'll certainly be a week to remember, so join us to celebrate the event.

Read the press release

Where better to be, with the sun shining in all its glory, than Dai Jones' Farm, in Berthlwyd Llanilar, and what a welcome we had! We popped our heads in the Annual General Meeting of the Show, and were blown away with the generosity and enthusiasm of the Cardis. The cattle shed was filled with crowds of people, plenty of food, and gifts of every kind, and you can have a taste of it all by watching our latest videos. One thing is for sure, it will excite, and make you even more eager for the week of the big Show!!!

5 weeks to go until we reach the pinnacle of the countryside calendar, The Royal Welsh Show. The preparations have long begun on the Showground in Builth Wells as well as in this year's feature county, Ceredigion. This year's Show will be held from 19-22 July with the exciting launch of the new Food Hall being the new home to the excellent Welsh produce. Record figures of sheep and cattle have been entered for this year's show and I am confident that the standards will be as high if not higher than previous years. During 2009 for the 21st time, over 200,000 visitors attended the show with 652 individuals coming from 30 overseas countries.

Of course, this year there will be an increase in these figures due to the World Shearing Championships being held during the week of the show. I can state that there will be 28 countries competing and the Champion David Fagan will be amongst them. There will be an array of attractions to suit each member of the family including the King's Troop, RHA; JCB Dancing Diggers; Chariots of Fire; Meirion Owen and the Quack Pack as well as Royal Welsh Mounted Games - Invitation European Team Championships to name only a few. Follow the website to learn more about the Show's preparations. It's going to be a good one!

'Welcome to Wales !'.... was the theme of this year's Ceredigion YFC Rally. Llanddeiniol YFC, the winners of last year's rally warmly welcomed hundreds of members and friends of the movement to the event that was held in Llanrhystud. Hundreds of members participated in 19 competitions throughout the day, from Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Judging to Tracing Your History competitions.

Everyone was delighted to see the sun. I competed in two competitions, the Shooting Star group competition, and traced the history of Ryan Davies. My competitions were during the morning so I was free to enjoy the rest of the day's events, including the exhibition in the main ring where the clubs performed the opening ceremony for an event held in Wales this year. As the sun beamed on the field it was very colorful scene with clubs choosing numerous events including the Urdd, Sioe'r Cardis, Ryder Cup and World Shearing Championships.

I'm glad to say that my club, Caerwedros won the exhibition and will go on to compete during The Royal Welsh, and I also will have the honour of representing Ceredigion again this year in the Shooting Star competition on the YFC stage, a very popular competition that always attracts a huge audience.

Pontsian won the day, with Talybont second, Caerwedros and Llanwenogs joint third. Although Pontsian came out on top, I think the ice-cream were the real winners on the day!

We all look forward to the Royal Show in Builth Wells where I'm sure the standard of competition will continue to rise and we're all crossing our fingers for fine weather.

Go to the gallery to see pictures from the event

It's incredible how time flies, there's only 6 weeks to go until the Royal Welsh Show! During the coming weeks I'll be looking forward to, and preparing for the World Shearing Championships that will be held at the Shearing Centre on the show ground during the Royal Welsh. I'll be participating in a British Wool Marketing Board shearing course designed to train the competitors of the future, and visit one of Wales' busiest shearing crews. Come back to see the clips!

What can I tell you about the Sioe'r Cardis appeal so far? Well, since our first meeting that was held over a year ago in Aberystwyth, I've had a revelation. I never expected so many people to be a part of the appeal and the same must be said from the other two committees in the county. The enthusiasm of the people has been a driving force. We haven't held a single boring committee meeting, or a flat event, and it's all thanks to the people who have gone out of their way to organize exciting and successful events of all kinds.

One event that stood out for me personally was the bike ride along the old railway from Tregaron to Aberystwyth last October. I thought I wouldn't remember how to ride a bike, let alone the modern bikes of today with gears and rear wheel brakes. But I completed the event, as did dozens of others, raising a respectable amount towards the cause. The problem is that I haven't been able to sit on top of a tractor since! Maybe I should ask Olwen Berthlwyd for one of her posh cushins, that should do the trick!

Another Royal Welsh Show is nearly upon us and it's a huge privilege and honor for me to be named President of this years show as Ceredigion is the host county. As President I have traveled the length and bredth of Ceredigion, from north to south, from the mountains to the sea, and the welcome I've received has been amazing.

The success of the Sioe'r Cardis appeal has highlighted the Cardis generous qualities, and the enthusiasm from the young and old is quite incredible.

It'll be a special Show this year - I have no doubts, and please come to Llanelwedd to experience the excitement, competitions and high quality stock.

I'm looking forward to see you on the show ground and in my humble opinion The Royal Welsh show is the greatest show on earth.

Go to www.ceredigionroyalwelsh.org for more information.

Had a fantastic weekend in the Smallholder and Garden Festival. Met a lot of colourful characters and saw some amazing displays. Enjoy the video clips!

I am looking forward to competing in the pig section (Saturday), and I am also lecturing on the topic: 'Smallholding: Lifestyle or Livelihood'. This is a 'Double-hander' with Tim Tyne, who is someone who runs a Smallholding in the North as a business. We are both authors of the magazine 'Country Smallholding'.

Tim calls himself a 'career smallholder'. I on the other hand have witnessed my hobby turn into a part-time business. I continue to work as a journalist and write books. Therefore, I do not rely on the money from the Smallholding because I have another source of income. This is in total comparison to Tim. We will both speak of our experiences, and attempt to explain why we have chosen to do what we do. I predict that most of the audience will be planning on running a smallholding in addition to their current job. However, perhaps some will want to escape the 'rat-race' and make money out of life in the countryside.

As well as speaking about the style of life we have chosen, we will talk about the rules, paper work, red tape (having your land registered, taking the animals to the slaughterhouse, selling meat and other produce, etc.) There are a huge amount of things to think about before you can turn your smallholding into a business and it's a costly process!

Next weekend i will be brining you the best from the Smallholder and Garden Festival in Llanelwedd. This will be my first visit to the event so if you have any suggestions or interesting stories plaese contact us through the messageboard on this website. Exclusive video clips will appear on this website from Monday onwards, and links to re-watch the S4C programme on clic.

We are all very excited as we prepare to film the forthcoming Royal Welsh Smallholder and Garden Festival 2010 on May the 15th and 16th, as it celebrates it's 10th anniversary. Shan Cothi, Russell Jones and Ifan Jones Evans will be exploring the site visiting attractions such as, The Open Premier Dog Show, the Green Horizons (Eco) Exhibition and the Farmers Market and Floral Displays, to name just a few. There will also be an opportunity to meet a variety of rare breed animals and pets and there is a wealth of entertainment awaiting the whole family from Scurry Driving to Ferret Racing. If you are attending the Festival then please do come over to the crew and share your stories of the event with us, we may even be able to capture a few of your ideas on the website.

For those of you who are unable to attend, remember to watch the weekends highlights programme on Monday the 17th of May at 21:00 on S4C, which will then be repeated on Thursday the 20th of May at 21:30

Welcome to the new home for the events from the Royal Welsh Showground. My name is Evan Rowlands and during the last few years I have been traveling up and down the country finding stories and news items of interest to this website. Along with the Royal Welsh and Winter Fair our cameras for the first time will be in the Smallholder and Garden Festival but my main focus for the year will be the 2010 World Shearing Championship. During the week of the Royal Welsh the best shearers from all over the world will be flocking to the Meirion Shearing Centre in order to win the most prestigious title in the shearing calendar. Unfortunately I won't be competing this year but I will be traveling all over Wales meeting the people involved with the competition, and you never know I might brush up my shearing skills. Remember to contact the website if you have any interesting stories and you never know you might be a star on the website!

2010 is promising to be a very exciting year indeed, commencing with the launch if our new website. I am the fortunate individual who will be traveling the country searching for your exciting stories linked to agriculture. I will be attending numerous Young Farmer's Club Events; Summer Shows and other interesting events on the agricultural calendar. The production crew are currently busy preparing for the forthcoming programmes. In the near future, we will be filming a selection of animals and items for new opening titles needed for the Smallholders Festival.

Our our aim is to promote agricultural activities all over the country and this website is here for you whatever your age or background, be it rural or urban. Therefore, I hope that you'll contribute to the site and feel free to leave messages on our messageboards. If you have any suggestions of events which would be of interest, then please do contact us. A very warm welcome to you all and I shall look forward to meeting you all in the forthcoming year.

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