COWDENBEATH dairy farmer Brian Weatherup will be one of the judges at 2020's All Breeds All Britain Calf Show.

Organised by Holstein Young Breeders, the Calf Show will be held October 16 to 18, at the East of England Showground, Peterborough.

In addition to the Holstein classes, the show will feature six other dairy breeds: British Friesian, Jersey, Guernsey, Brown Swiss, Ayrshire and Dairy Shorthorn.

Somerset's Ben Yates has been announced as National Holstein Calf Show judge, while Mr Weatherup has been named as master judge for the National Holstein Showmanship Competition.

Mr Yates is farm manager for the Y-Farm Partnership, Shepton Mallet, which is a modern dairy unit milking 1200 Holsteins. With his wife and two boys, Ben also has a small herd of his own animals under the Wowcow prefix. During his time managing The Wyndford Herd in Shropshire, Ben enjoyed success showing animals he’d bred across the UK and in Europe, the highlight being winning second place intermediate heifer with Wyndford Mr Weatherup competed as a HYB member for fifteen years and has since gone on to judge at shows across the UK and Ireland, including the Royal Highland Show, Great Yorkshire Show and Irish National Calf Show. He is a third generation dairy farmer and helps to run the 220 head Parkend Holstein herd in Cowdenbeath, Fife. Showing highlights for the family include four Royal Highland Show championships, champion heifer at the National Holstein Show and winning the Red and White Championship at UK Dairy Day.

HYB competitions extend beyond the show ring and with support from principal sponsor Semex, other awards are presented at the event and throughout the year. The Littlestar Award will be presented to a HYB member aged 17 years or under who has made an outstanding contribution to the breed and their club. Other accolades include stand competitions, the Louise Hartley Award and the acclaimed Dick Stapleton Award. This is presented to a young breeder, of any age and from any breed, who is recognised by the ABAB team for being extremely helpful and always going above and beyond when contributing to their club and breed.

Adding a little competitive fun, contending teams will be required to construct stands based on the event theme, which will be confirmed over the next couple of months, whilst also making sure their cattle lines and calves look immaculate. The team who embraces the theme the best is rewarded for its inspiration and efforts!

Events and National HYB coordinator for Holstein UK, Cerys Petrie, commented: “The annual All Breeds All Britain Calf Show brings together young dairy farmers from across the UK to compete, learn and network. The standard of competition is always exceptional and it’s really inspiring to see so many young calf handlers demonstrating sophisticated skills at such a young age.”