Show ring sisters set to hog the limelight

DANCING, pretty clothes, going to parties … Jolie and Jennie Matthews interests sound similar to most little girls.

So it comes as quite a shock when the next one to be rattled off from their list of out-of-school interests is "showing pigs".

As if to prove their point, they scuttle over a fence and approach a heavily-pregnant sow – "she'll weigh quarter of a ton easy," says their father Kevin – as he deftly moves her across the paddock.

Six year-old Jolie and big sister Jennie, eight, have been helping out with the family's pigs pretty much since they could walk. Pupils of Gladstone Road Primary School, in Scarborough, the girls will be exhibiting at the Great Yorkshire Show for the umpteenth time in their young lives.

Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that the Matthews girls are not from a traditional farming family. They are part of a growing band of what used to be called hobby farmers who are consistently bolstering the numbers at agricultural shows the length and breadth of the country. This year's entries at the GYS are very healthy indeed.

"When we first started showing we were in the minority," says Kevin. "But now there are hundreds of people like us with just a small number of animals, be they pigs, cattle, goats, sheep – anything and everything really – who take part in the shows."

Kevin is the exact opposite of his daughters' daintiness. He's a strapping lad – a roofer – with the tattoos and long hair to match.

"You wouldn't recognise me when I'm showing the pigs," he laughs. "Presentation is an important part of it; the hair's tied back and I've got the white coat on."

Kevin is a well-respected judge of pigs, choosing the winners at the recent Bath and West Show. "When I'm judging, you'll find me in my suit with a bowler hat on. It's all taken very seriously."

It turns out Kevin's father, Ken, is the man behind it. "When Kevin was 10, I gave him a pig for his birthday," he reveals.

Ken formerly owned The Forge restaurant at Brompton, near Scarborough, as well as a popular coffee shop in Pickering. Now retired, he likes nothing better than popping down to the family's land at Ebberston, between Pickering and Scarborough, to keep an eye on the mixture of Large Blacks, Saddlebacks and British Lops, a rare white pig.

"I'm down here at 6.30 on a morning and back again at night. It's a little sanctuary really, a gentler pace of life compared to running the restaurant. I can sit and read a paper when the pigs are

all fed."

That first birthday pig of Kevin's killed her entire first litter of piglets. "It could have put me off completely but we persevered and she eventually became a good mother," says Kevin who started off showing at the smaller local shows such as Thornton-le-Dale

and Ryedale.

Daughter Jolie shows the Saddlebacks and Jennie the Large Blacks. The family has about nine sows, the same number of younger females and two breeding boars. With tutoring from father and grandfather they've become experts at using the boards and sticks to stop their charges running off. "I like shampooing them best," says Jodie. On show day the pigs also get a slick of oil to make them shiny.

The Matthews are matter-of-fact about the life cycle of their pigs. "There are those we keep to show, some we sell on for breeding and others – that don't make that grade – that are slaughtered," explains Ken, who will be judging pigs at Egton Show. "What we can be sure of is that whatever the end they've had a good quality of life."

He rates the Saddleback pork the best. "The fat isn't just sat on the top of the meat. It goes right through the meat, making it lovely and moist."

The family point to television first-time farmer Jimmy Doherty for the increase in pig ownership. "He's been the saviour of Saddleback pigs," says Kevin. "There's been so much more interest in the Essex and Wessex varieties since he was on the television."

Jennie remembers getting special attention at last year's Great Yorkshire. The commentator announced she had just had 18 inches of her hair cut off to donate to the Little Princess Trust which makes wigs for children who have lost their hair as a result of cancer treatment.

"Before we knew what was happening buckets had been brought out and people were throwing money in," remembers her mother Tracey. "That's just what the people at the shows are like – so friendly. She'd already raised 250 – but within minutes there was another 500."

Lack of preparation with an animal is the stumbling block for most first-time exhibitors believes Kevin. "You shouldn't be teaching them how to walk around a ring at a show. All that practice should have been done at home. There are some simple pointers, like going around the ring clockwise, that are important. As is having them fed right – so they're fat but not too fat. You also want the females to be nicely in pig, but not too close to farrowing, come show day.

"The great thing about pig people is that they love talking about them. People shouldn't feel at all intimidated about coming over and asking us any questions.

"The more people who show and get involved with animals the better it is for their future survival."

Bill Cowling, honorary director of the Great Yorkshire Show, says: "Encouraging children to learn about and exhibit animals also has a positive knock-on effect on the different breeds.

"There are a large number of rare breeds that have been pulled back from near extinction by enthusiasts, many of whom are not from farming backgrounds."

The Great Yorkshire Show, from Tuesday to Thursday, July 13-15. www.greatyorkshireshow. co.uk or call 01423 541000.

CW 10/7/10