Dairy Show

The Dairy Show is an annual British agricultural show, organised by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. It was founded in 1876 and was first held at the Agricultural Hall in Islington, London; it was later held at Olympia, London, and then moved to the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre at Stoneleigh Park, in Warwickshire. It is now held as part of the annual Livestock Event at the National Exhibition Centre, in Birmingham in the Midlands.[1]

Dairy Show
Statusactive
Genreagricultural show
Frequencyannual
Location(s)
Years active1876 – present
InauguratedOctober 1876 (1876-10)
Organised byRoyal Association of British Dairy Farmers

The show was originally known as the Metropolitan Dairy Show.[2]:95 Goats, pigs and poultry were included in the show from its earliest years.[3] The introduction of milking trials and tests of butterfat and protein content of milk at the show in 1879 was both a response to, and a contributory factor in, the progressive trend towards selection of stock for productive traits rather than purely for physical appearance.[3][4]:144

The first Dairy Show

The first Dairy Show was held from 24 – 27 October 1876. Some 150 milch cows were shown; there were prizes of 100 guineas each for the best Channel Islands cow and for the best other-breed cow,[5] which went to a Shorthorn.[6] The total prize-money for cattle was 500 guineas, about half the total for the show. Butter and cheeses were exhibited, and there were demonstrations of cheese-making and butter-churning. One exhibitor entered more than 1000 Stilton cheeses in the show.[5] Dairy equipment and machinery was exhibited and judged.[6]

Other livestock, including goats and poultry, was also shown. There were about 500 entries in the poultry section,[5] which included chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys.[6] Hops, grains and roots were also exhibited.[5]

The attendance at the exhibition was much greater than had been anticipated by the organisers.[7]:760 Special trains were laid on by the major railway companies, including the Great Northern, the Great Western, the London and South-Western, the London and North-Western and the Midland Railway.[5]

The British Dairy Farmers' Association was formed at a meeting during the exhibition, at the instigation of J. Prince Sheldon.[8]:208[7]:760

  • Harrison Weir, The Dairy Show at the Agriculture Hall: Prize Cows; The Illustrated London News, 1876
  • Cheese and Butter Making and Prize Cheeses at the Dairy Show; The Illustrated London News, 1876
  • Sketches at the Dairy Show; The Illustrated London News, 1881
  • Cattle at the Dairy Show, Islington; The Graphic, 1887
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References
  1. The History - 139 Years of Progress. RABDF Events. Archived 7 August 2016.
  2. Peter J. Atkins, Peter Lummel, Derek J. Oddy (2016). Food and the City in Europe since 1800, second edition. London; New York: Routledge, 2016. ISBN 9780754649892.
  3. RABDF History. Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. Accessed June 2016.
  4. Richie Nimmo (2010). Milk, Modernity and the Making of the Human: Purifying the Social. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415558747.
  5. Front-page matter (small ads). The Times, 24 October 1876.
  6. [s.n.] (23 December 1876). The London Dairy Show. The Sydney Mail. Page 807.
  7. Hugh Chisholm (editor) (1911). Dairy. Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  8. [s.n.] (16 October 1920). A Record of Dairy Progress and Propaganda. Dairy World and the British Dairy Farmer. Page 208–209.
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