THE ROYAL FARMS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 19

THE ROYAL FARMS

- 5 : : r ?' • = ; Famous for Cottle, Sheepl ] , " and Hpr^efi . WINDSOR ESTATE | * ■* ' 1 • * ** i ) ** - » * ' 4 Coronation- -year -will bring many visitors from overseas tq admire tho poyal farms 4t Windsor and SandriTtghdm. In beginning his first. show season King Ggorge.VI inherits froni-Tiis father a great love of farming. The Hqyal farms h'ave a century and a half of history, and ara under the 'ciar© -of t'he King's steward, Afr Alec Ritchie. Most of th'e animals : the"King will" show at" th^s year's Great Britain agricultural qhows ara home bfed. This is a custom in the Royal family etrongly adhered to by the lat'e Kbig George V., who won sb many .show prizes not only with his famous pedigree herds of Shortborns, Herefordshire and Aberdeen-Angus cattle and his Southdown sheep, but With his pigs and his shire horses. Koyal farming has earned high respect in the agricultural world, and Empirp visitors whl have much to learn from the famous show farm at Windsor. ' At Sandringham there is also thfe famous raqing stud, whichi King Edward' VHI. decided to discontinue, and leased to Lord Derby* _ Now the King's colburs are again heing seen oh thp turfv and the famous. thoroughhred stud at the Sandringham farm .continues. There is, too, the expeiiment in flax growing on the Sandringham farm which King George V. began, and wbich. was received with wide interestj The Royal show at Wolveirhamptcnj. from July 6 to 10," the Welsh show, and at the endi of the year the Smithfield show, London, will see the prime of the. King's stock. These will include especiaily the Sborthorn and Hereford cattle, hred and reared at the Windsoi farm, which was founded-' hy the Frinco Consprt. , George V.'s Successors.Shorthorns ' have been bred at Windsor for over a century, and Windsor Guardsman fs the name of the bull who ieads the present Sborthorn h6rd, a fine, thick-fleshed beast, hred on the Royal farm and recipient of many famous show prizes, The hroed s? favoured hy the Royal farmers is the most popular in the country, now forming three-quarters of the cattle reared in Britain. They originated in the Tees Valley district of Yorkshire and Durham, and #e now found all over the world. Windsor show farm has always possessed some of the most outstanding animals in the country, New Year's Gift, who has been champion of Chester show, was sold in 1892 for 1O0Q gns., a large sum in those days for a prize beast, while in 1904 Ronald, a red ana white bull and Royal show champion, went to Chile for 1500 guineas. Royal Duke was| champion at th© Royal show in three s*ccessive years, Princess Josephine was a famous Smithfield show champion from the Royal farm, while Cicely and Ifrederica were ajso Royal show ehampions. At the Smithfield fat stock show of 1934 Ging George V. took second and third prizes with Sborthorn steers. Since Mr Ritchie has been steward of the Royal farms quite a lot of crossbreeding betweeu Aberdeen-Angus cattle and Windsor Shorthorns has been carried on, with great success at the fat stock shows, especiaily in the baby-beef sections. CWmpionship Honours. With one of these crosses King George V. won the baby-beef section of the 1934 Smithfield show with a crossbred heifer just under 14 Months, who weighed 9 civt. 4 lb. The runnerup in this contest also came from the Windsor farms, and was a steer of the samq breeding. Leader of the King's herd of Herefordshire cattle is Sultan, who won a first at last year's Royal show at Bristol. He is a wonderfully formed bull, with deep quarters. This breed of cattle was originally employed in the West Country for draught pur-. poses,- as was the big red Devon breed, and some are still used for ploughing, hay making, etc., on Earl Bathurst's Estate, near Cirencested. At the 1934 Smithfield show King George V won the Hereford champiouship with a steer and also third place with a steer, At Sandringham a few Red Polls — the, deep red, hornless cattle native to Norfolk — and Highland cattle are also reared, and have gained honours at the Smithfield show carcaso competitions. A Sandringham Highland steer gained championship honours at the 1934 Smithfield show, and other animals got fchree tbirds, wnile there were first and third- prizes for Red Polls from the coyal farms. The sheep and pigs from Sandringham farm are, however, the best known exhibits from the King's country home. The sheep here consist of one of the finest fiocks of Southdowns in the country, and for thirty years they have gathered high' honours from all the leadiug agricultural and ' Chrifitmas sboWs. They have been ehampions at Smithfield and the Royal shows. Southdowns are the leadiug membois of the short-woo|led down breeds, and the smallest, and these compact little wide-baeked sheep make an attractive exhibit in any show pen. Thoy are largely reared in the south-east of Britain. The King's pigs are chiefly Berkfiiire, which is pre-ominent amongst all pig breeds in the carcase competitions. ,It- is at the Sandringham farm that the kings of England have this century carried on their interests in horse breeding, chiefly with the Shire horses, and with raeehorses or thoroughbreds. Although the Shire horse stud at Sand-

ringham has not been very prominent in recent years, it was once tlie country's great establishment of breed, and in 1920 and 1921 King George Y. won the supreme championship with Eield Marshal Fifth, one of his homebred stallions, declared one of the finest speciniens of the Shire horse over seen.