Armagh County Agricultural Show

The annual Armagh County Agricultural show held this year on Saturday 11th June was staged in the glorious location of Gosford Forest Park at the edge of the town of Markethill in County Armagh.

- Guy Richardson

The annual Armagh County Agricultural show held this year on Saturday 11th June was staged in the glorious location of Gosford Forest Park at the edge of the town of Markethill in County Armagh. The forest park is a wonderful setting for the show within 240 hectares of diverse woodland and open parkland, with some of the poultry exhibitors enjoying the benefit of the location by camping in the park the day before the show.

This year’s show attracted an incredible turnout of poultry and eggs with almost 550 entries. To think that this was only the fourth year of the poultry section, which had been started by a group of friends who wanted a local venue to show poultry in. A county that has a large number of pure breed poultry keepers and within a short distance of Counties Louth, Cavan and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland where poultry keeping has become very popular.

The show team have always been open to new ideas with classes having been altered each year to keep pace with the poultry fanciers’ needs. This year three excellent judges kindly accepted an invitation to judge the event. From County Donegal came Herbie Lusby who I have known since the 1970s and who has kept many varieties, especially Domestic Waterfowl, and heavy and light soft feather breeds of fowl. Judging true bantams was Peter Hamill, who is well-known for his excellent Pekins, Belgian bantams and Call ducks and who regularly shows with fellow exhibitors Daniel Moore and Geoff Weir, who kindly didn’t show at this event. Alan Carson was the hard feather judge - a man who himself kept incredible Old English Game bantams, especially in Furnace and Black and was a longtime member of the Dromore bantam club. This was an incredible wealth of knowledge that the judging team brought to the show and I would like to thank them for giving up their valuable time to judge a big section of poultry.