Creature Comforts - 2-01 - Beast In Show (-2ch).srt (DOWNLOAD SUBTITLES)
The Royal Marines is here, and then the parading of the hounds,
parading of the sheep, cattle, horses.
All right? And pigs as well.
Yes, so that's that. Yeah.
"Could I explain what the County Show is?"
The County Show is a social occasion
for people who live in the countryside.
They bring their best farm animals to the show
to compete with each other.
And it's generally a big, big social occasion,
where people meet together
and they go and have a look and chat. And it's all good fun really.
Well, we're very fond of The Bath & West 'cause they always make you welcome.
And then here we get free straw for the cattle, and everybody is helpful,
and you get paid for the milk here which you don't at some shows,
and it's nice to meet your friends.
I wouldn't say there was a great social side to rabbits.
Well, no. But you do meet a lot of...
You meet a lot of people.
We're... We're all friends as we're in the same club.
-Yes. -Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I've been involved since I was three or four.
My parents were both very horsy.
I'm planning to go totty hunting a bit later. But I've got to...
Well, that's after I've jumped my class 'cause otherwise, I'll run out of time.
And I'll get in trouble by the parents 'cause I haven't done my job properly,
but plenty of time for everything.
Things have changed a terrific amount. Yeah, they really have.
You know, things were a lot...
Slower, and there wasn't the rush and...
tear that there is today, you know, and...
Well, donkeys are so intelligent. A lot of people don't think they are.
But donkeys are so intelligent, it's unbelievable.
They're almost as intelligent, I would say, as a dog.
We've got one donkey that came from the middle of London
that got too much for his owner.
We've got another donkey that came from Ross-on-Wye.
We've got another donkey that's came in with another donkey.
And then we've got another donkey
that came with a little donkey that we've got.
Anybody standing there like you ask
hasn't the faintest idea of what we're talking about.
It's all... It's all...
What's the word?
-What's the word? -No.
Other people wouldn't understand what we're talking about.
They wouldn't... To watch the eggs being judged,
people say, "How do you judge an egg?"
But to some people, eggs are so important,
and to get them just right, other people just eat them on breakfast.
Innit?
My main reason for being competitive
is because I know the more I win, the more girlfriends I'll have,
and the more girlfriends I have, probably the more I'll win.
Because the more support I'll get, just as I go in, in a big pressure class...
So the idea is to keep winning and keep gaining lots of girlfriends at these shows.
"So first prize goes to number 116."
"Bozedown Alpacas, Oxfordshire."
The judge we've got today is from Peru. Dr. Julio Sumar.
And he is one of the best regarded judges in the world,
and he's come here especially from Peru to judge today.
Only I think he's going to be here till midnight at this rate, so...
You're all in a line, and the judge is walking up and down behind you
and then walks up and down in front of you.
And then he moves up and he pats or slaps
on the back of the animal that's the winner.
And that animal moves forward, so you're there and you...
And he moves toward you. This is it, this is it.
Then the bugger turns and goes up the other way and then he comes back,
and it's a terrific feeling when he slaps, and then the crowd all applaud
and it's a great, great feeling.
Oh, yeah, it's like a drug. It's like you've had a large Scotch
suddenly, and then you go on to having a whole bottle
and you keep coming back for more and you want more.
And when you get more, you want more.
Then you feel quite elated afterwards and really excited.
Yeah, it's really good.
I think you could say that, "Show me a good loser,"
and I'll show you a loser.
If you keep waterfowl, number one, you're gonna need a pond.
Especially if you keep white ones.
But you ain't got a pond and you've only got little dishes and buckets,
and then everything is all mucked up,
and then it's ten times more work.
A little bit disappointing in the results
because the best eggs for the show were actually duck eggs.
And I did really well with my chicken eggs and got lots of prizes.
But being beaten by duck eggs...
So it's waterfowl against chicken, which is disappointing.
You're trying to maintain a standard
to get the ones which will go on to the next stage of breeding,
and so it's constant selection towards perfection.
Breed like rabbits, forget it. Hell, no!
All the pigs here, of course, are pedigree. We can go back generations.
A pig without a pedigree is just a pig.
And there's no problems with the confirmation of any aspect of it.
"The animal is a well-conformed animal."
You do occasionally get people who cheat.
They use the same eggs for more than one show.
Use them for quite a few shows in some cases.
But you normally get caught out if you cheat.
They hard-boil the eggs so that they don't go off,
and use the same eggs again and again.
-Or... -They buy them.
Yeah, there may be people who buy them. I don't know.
-I don't buy my eggs personally. I... -No.
-No. Not much at all. -No, I've never,
never shown eggs. Only when I was forced to once.
When you're checking out the competition,
you wait until they all go back to their truck and trailers
for their evening meal or whatever, and then you come up
and have a good look round late at night. In the twilight hours.
There are stories about cows that have been milked out
in the middle of the night, and bulls that have suddenly gone lame.
And all this kind of capers. And blown up with wind
because someone's put something in the food or whatever.
But, I mean, that's a kind of... They're stories and...
That happens very, very infrequently.
We've had one or two very slight instances over the last five years.
But in the old days,
when there was...
I'm just giving an interview to a gentleman who's doing a TV series, Pam.
I'll give you a ring right back, all right? Okay.
Sorry about that.
Thank you very much.
I don't think it will ever die out. It may do in time, but...
'Cause really, when you've got animals,
Iittle ones like to come and see it all the time.
They always want to see a pig or a sheep or a rabbit.
Thank you very much.
So that's all I'm gonna tell you anyway.
If you want to know any bloody more words, sort it out yourselves.