Farm on the M62: Entry conundrum for Great Yorkshire Show - Jill Thorp

I told him he could rest assured I had no desire to venture into his cow shed as I knew all too well there were certain cows in there that deserved the unflattering names they’d been given, which I won’t be repeating on here! The sheep shed on the other hand was painfully inactive.

We’re now waiting on the offspring of the borrowed tup so I expect we’ll be in for another week of watching and waiting.

The clock is ticking and in a matter of days, entries will open for the Great Yorkshire show. Ordinarily this is a fairly straightforward procedure, fill in the entry form and post it back to them. However, the days of printed schedules and entry forms seem to be a thing of the past.

Online entries are the stuff of nightmares for me. I leave all the horse entries for the many shows we attend throughout the summer to my Mum.

She has the patience to painstakingly fill in endless boxes and unlike me, can refrain from flinging her phone across the room in a frustrated rage.

The sheep entries though are left to me, which quite literally give me sleepless nights. I’ve job enough remembering what I had for breakfast let alone what last year’s user name and login password were to allow me access to the system.

Whilst the girls in the office at the Great Yorkshire show are always incredibly helpful, our entries must still be done online and as it’s based on a first come first served basis, with limited sheep pens available, the pressure is really on.

It feels like a round of “Who wants to be a millionaire” with “fastest finger first” securing their bookings. It’s not ideal and leaves many farmers missing out on attending this most revered of shows.

I would also question the number of long-term exhibitors that have spent a lifetime of attending the show, no doubt as their only annual break, who will be left behind by this modern approach and are quite simply unable to enter.

Most shepherds will be dealing with the many “leg back, head back, twin lamb and bum first” scenarios that lambing time presents and I fear will quite simply be unaware of the entry deadlines.

It’s an incredibly difficult situation for all, the immense popularity of the show has almost forced out many local and long standing exhibitors, yet the society can only accommodate so many.

I’m not sure what the answer is, the show is in danger of almost outgrowing it’s long term supporters and it saddens me immensely to see and hear of the disappointment from fellow competitors who quite simply haven’t been quick enough to get their pens booked and will miss out on the much needed break, camaraderie and support whilst at the show.