Family rivalry to resume at Otley Show

Brushes, combs, hair dryers, sweet smelling sprays and powders will all be back out in fragrant force next Saturday as cattle, sheep, horses and other animals are titivated towards success at Otley - Yorkshire's summer agricultural show season curtain raiser.
Gemma McNeil and mum Kate breed and show British Blonde cattle and are preparing to go head to head again at the Otley Show. Picture by Scott Merrylees.Gemma McNeil and mum Kate breed and show British Blonde cattle and are preparing to go head to head again at the Otley Show. Picture by Scott Merrylees.
Gemma McNeil and mum Kate breed and show British Blonde cattle and are preparing to go head to head again at the Otley Show. Picture by Scott Merrylees.

It’s the oldest show in the country. This will be its 208th appearance since the Wharfedale Agricultural Society was founded in 1796 and it remains a popular day for both locals and visitors alike. Unfortunately, due to a second recent case of avian flu in Lancashire, the organisers have had to cancel the poultry classes this year but other than that everything will go ahead as normal.

One of the best represented cattle breeds at the show is the British Blonde and this year it will see father, daughter and granddaughter go halter to halter once again.

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Kate McNeil has attended Otley Show since she was four-years-old and for many years was part of a formidable show team with her dad, cattle showman stalwart Ken Jackson. Together the father and daughter partnership carried off an impressive haul of show titles, most notably with their all-conquering, undefeated show champion bull Boxster who famously escaped culling when Kate, Ken and wife Anita challenged Defra over a botched TB test and won in the High Court.

Last year Kate and husband Andrew moved onto their 16-acre farm at Wrancarr Mill between the hamlets of Haywood and Trumfleet, four miles from Askern where they now have a small but growing herd of pedigree Blondes including eight breeding females and 19 cattle overall. It’s all part of Kate’s long standing commitment to the breed and her determination to ensure her Katem herd continues to increase its reputation. She had previously kept her own stock at her parents’ Forlorn Hope farm in Walden Stubbs. Kate is looking forward to next Saturday.

“Otley is the first one out and while showing can be tiring it’s a different kind of tiredness because it’s also coupled with socialising and meeting up with our good friends, particularly other Blonde breeders and they’re always on good form.

“We’re taking some of our young stock this time. We’ve entered two young bulls and a heifer. It’s going to be a bit of a ride out for them before the show season really gets going with lots of dates. We won at Otley last year, which was great, but with having just moved here we had a lot to do on the farm and only managed to get to three others.

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“The Blondes used to be part of the Any Other Breeds class but we’ve had our own classes in the past few years because there has been a good attendance of breeders and cattle from our own North East British Blonde Cattle Society members.”

Ken started with Blondes over 30 years ago and has shown cattle at Otley for the past 34 years.

“I took them on as I thought they were an up and coming breed and I still think that’s the same today. There’s certainly more showing them than ever. Butchers like them. I go to Selby livestock market and Blondes top the mart nine out of every ten times. They’ve become more maternal too and have improved their shape.”

One member of the family who has a welly boot in both camps is Kate and Andrew’s daughter Gemma, 15, who will travel in the wagon with her parents’ entries and then join ‘the other side’ and show her granddad’s cattle. While Gemma has always accompanied her mum and granddad during show season her showing career started in earnest around five years ago.

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“My first time was a bit scary. I had Ike, a little bull calf. He tripped me up and stood on my ankle. What I’ve found is that you’ve just got to be confident and keep calm with them.”

Ken has been known to entertain showmen and women with songs on an evening at the Great Yorkshire Show and was part of the Singing Farmers who raised funds for the charity RABI for 13 years until the concerts came to an end last year after 52 performances.

Gemma is following in her granddad’s footsteps not just with the Blondes but also her own singing career and appeared as a guest singer with the Singing Farmers in the last four years. She’s won Doncaster’s Got Talent for the past two years and has just released her second CD that will be available at Otley Show.

“I won a competition at my local primary school in Pollington when I was in Year 4, singing Valerie, then I started singing where granddad was performing. Now I go where he goes. My brother Patrick’s girlfriend, Katie (O’Shea) sings too. Granddad calls us his backing angels.

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“I like singing all sorts of pop songs like Adele’s and I really enjoy singing Italian songs. I used to get really nervous, but I’m now a lot more relaxed.”

Gemma’s new CD is called ‘Takeaway’ and will be available at Otley Show or via email on [email protected]