Gwyn Edwards and John Sinnett will join Pearse McNamee in the hot seat, as judges at this year’s ultra-competitive 17th Borderway Agri Expo, which takes place in Carlisle on Friday, October 27th.
Gwyn Edwards, who is highly respected on the show circuit as a winning breeder and as a judge, will oversee cattle classes at the event.
He farms 200 head of beef cattle and 600 ewes on 700-acres in North Wales and recently achieved pedigree herd status for his home-bred Limousins.
He has shown cattle with consistent success for more than 40 years, winning the English Winter Fair Championship in 2019 and is the only person to date to have won the Welsh Winter Fair Supreme Championship three times, according to a spokesperson.
Ahead of the event, he said: “I think everyone who knows me will know what I am looking for,” he says.
“My ideal would be meaty and very correct, but the standard at Agri Expo will be exceptional, and the winner at Borderway is the envy of all the winter shows, so judging them will be a very challenging task.”
Sheep classes
Sheep this year will be judged by John Sinnett, who, in a lifetime of farming on the Welsh Borders, established a reputation as one of the UK’s outstanding producers of pedigree and commercial sheep, finishing some 20,000 lambs a year by the mid-1990s.
A leading breeder of pedigree Suffolk rams, John was the first in the UK to breed cross-bred rams, specialising after foot and mouth on developing a winning combination of good genetics from the most successful terminal sires: Charollais, Suffolk, Beltex and Texel.
Now fully retired from farming, he has moved to Wetheral, not far from Borderway, and remains a dedicated supporter of the sheep industry and its principal showcases, including Agri Expo.
“I felt I had completed my judging duties, but I am really honoured to be invited to judge here this autumn,” he remarked.
“When it comes to picking the best commercial traits, one size clearly does not fit all.”
“However, in this case, I will be looking for an easily fleshed, quality article, and judging based on the current demands and criteria of the main commercial finishers and processors,” he added.
