THIS year's Royal Welsh Show supreme sheep champion has been disqualified and replaced.

It was found that the winning ewe lamb was not registered to its respective society, the Texel Sheep Society, due to it being shown under a name not affiliated to the society, and was therefore in breach of eligibility rules at the show.

A statement issued by the RWS livestock department said: "We confirm that there has been change of winner in the sheep champion of champions award, judged on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at the Royal Welsh Show.

"Following information received after the competition, it has been established that exhibit number 6287 (Texel ewe lamb), exhibited by D N Bennett and Son, was not eligible to be shown. Consequently, the reserve champion, exhibit number 4058 (Beulah Speckled Face ewe), exhibited by AD and EE Richards of Cwmcelynen, Pumsaint, has been elevated to supreme champion.

"In order to be eligible to enter sheep at the show, every exhibitor must be a member in their own right of their respective breed society," it clarified. "We received two entries from the Bennett family, which were entered under two separate exhibitor names. Unfortunately, one of those names was not registered as a member of the Texel Sheep Society, which is in breach of the eligibility rules mentioned above."

Texel Sheep Society chief executive John Yates said that the society had made the show aware of the situation in advance of judging: "Despite receiving this information from the society, the Royal Welsh Show chose to allow all of the Bennett family’s entries to proceed to judging.

"We respect the Royal Welsh Show in applying their rules, but wish to make it clear, this situation could have been avoided had the show acted upon the information it received from the society earlier in the year."

In response to the loss of the championship, the Bennett family said: "We feel extremely aggrieved about the way the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society has handled this situation. Prior to the show, and until the parade, no contact was made with us regarding entries.

"The sheep entries were accepted by RWAS, and sheep were allowed to enter the showring throughout the week. The respective judges have picked their champion and we feel the title should not be revoked from us.”