YMA Showmanship League Final sponsored by FBD

The Young Members held the final of the Showmanship League on the Friday evening with Judge Ashley Fleming from Northern Ireland doing the honours. This was a great spectacle of young people of ages 12 to 26 showing their mastery of presentation handling and showing skills. The Showmanship League is a novel competition introduced by YMA as a platform to emphasise stockmanship skills. Local shows throughout the length and breadth of Ireland are involved as qualifiers during the summer months. Owing to popularity the competition now has three classes. The standard of handling skills was exemplary; many of the competitors had won at shows. The standard was praised highly by Ashley and he complimented the Young Members on their skill levels and enthusiasm on the night. John O’ Donovan, FBD sponsors of the Showmanship Final presented the prizes;

Class A – Showmanship League Final – Handlers aged 12 years & under on January 1st
1st – Hollie Keenan
2nd – Hannah Williamson
3rd – Claire Smith

Class B – Showmanship League Final – Handlers aged 13-16 years on January 1st
1st – Jack O’ Neill
2nd – Rachel Corley
3rd – Mark Hurley

Class C – Showmanship League Final – Handlers aged 17-26 years on January 1st
1st – Colin Todd
2nd – Doireann Mulhall
3rd – Gerard Kirby

With 49 young members taking part it is an encouraging prospect and bodes well for the future. Everyone taking part was presented with a certificate of achievement, congratulations to all.

Ashley Fleming of the Potterswalls Jersey herd is one of the top UK based breeders and recently won Champion titles at the UK Dairy Day and also exhibited the Interbreed Champion at Balmoral Spring Show. He is a renowned International Judge having judged in Australia, France and Germany. He previously judged the National Dairy Show in 2007. Ashley and his wife Lynda braved the inclement weather to travel from their Seaforde, County Down home, departing at 9am that morning.