As well as a motley collection of horses that drew some floats for the procession on Sunday at the Comice, farm animals do play a part in the Comice diary. On the Saturday morning there is the formal judging of the animals, and you can see them altogether. At lunch time, the winners are moved to shaded pens in the main field and the others go home for a nice rest and feed. I took these photos while they were still all lined up, so for the concerned out there - it was hot but not too bad and they were due to be moved just as soon as their owners got away from the beer tent.
The main livestock round us are dairy cows, although there are some beef herds knocking around. This photo shows the winning Friesian, Jersey (generally very rare round here) and Holstein cows before they went to the display pens. All are good milkers.
This Percheron mare was very proud of her foal - he was a bit big and heavy of foot but motherly love doesn't see that! As in the UK, there is increasing interest in heavy horses as more sustainable methods of transport, and the heavy horse sections of shows are increasing in popularity.
There were a couple of very nice donkeys this year - normally there are more.
No rural show would be complete without the most dangerous of farm livestock - the small, cute pony. I reckon if I had got too close to this little monster he would have had my leg! John regards these as competition but would like to remind people (particularly second home owners) that he doesn't need to see a blacksmith every 6 to 8 weeks, nor does he need extra hay and oats in the winter, regular grooming (he can do his own, thanks), and he can be left unsupervised for weeks at a time, which you can't do with livestock!
Comments