Entries have been steady for the Castlewellan Show and the final deadline has been extended to Friday 27 June.
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Visit the Castlewellan Show on Saturday 19 July.[/caption]
This year’s events includes over 300 classes  for cattle, horses, goats, pigs, sheep, poultry, dog agility and home industries and a brand new rabbit section on Show Day on Saturday 19 July.
The Show will play host to a number of prestigious finals including Hampshire Down National Championship as well as the Blonde Calf championship, NISA Final of the Junior Bull Championship and the British Blue Young Bull event . The native and traditional breeds cattle section this year is once again proving popular and is an important way to promote our more rarer and re-established breeds.
The dairy classes go from strength to strength and Mr Torben Melbaum from Germany is coming over to judge the entries.  Castlewellan continues to be the largest one day sheep show, with over 700 entries last year and similar expectations for this July. The inter-breed final is predicted to be the most competitive yet and the young handlers competition always brings forward some new talent. Within the goat section, the back to back two day goat show has been retained with milking on the Friday morning and evening.
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Sam and Elie McIlroy looking forward to the Castlewellan Show.[/caption]
Poultry classes have increased with new classes in game and soft feather. While our pig section is small, it always proves popular with show goers, particularly the rare breeds. This year we have a brand new rabbit section which is in world cup mode with over 60 classes such as Dutch, Argentinian, English, Belgian and German breeds.
Castlewellan continues to attract large numbers of horses, ranging from miniature to agricultural horses with classes and qualifiers throughout the day for Non Thoroughbred, Half Bred, Irish draughts, hunters, ponies, donkey and hackney classes. The Search for A Star Young Horse Championship has now become an annual feature with a prize fund of £2000.  Once again Mossvale Riding Club will facilitate a range of classes in the unaffiliated show jumping and entry is on the day.
Our most popular tent on Show Day is home industries with art, baking, crafts, knitting, photography, jams galore. The local Women’s Institutes have been challenged to produce a display with the theme of ‘A Message from Home’ as an acknowledgement to WW1. Families are being challenged to come up with the best scarecrow and there will be the small pets competition on the day. The dog agility events have grown over the years with David Duncan once again in charge of proceedings and Kirsty Jess in judging mode.
This year’s main sponsor Target Dry outdoor wear will be hosting the fashion village and the Show is also delighted with the continued support from Down District Council. The craft tent is now full but we are still taking bookings for the food tent and outdoor stalls. You can download entry and booking forms from the show website at:
and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter  :  check @CastlewellanSho for updates.
Finally, the Show is appealing for a return of perpetual cups and trophies in advance, so please contact secretary Jackie Fitzpatrick : email Jackiecastlewellanshow@gmail.com  or phone 02840638087.
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