Huge support for small town’s livestock show

Nov 13 2007 by Paddy Rooney, Western Mail

THE town of Zafra in south–west Spain lies in a stock-raising area of prairie, low hills and scattered oaks, and is renowned for the Iberica pigs which forage widely for acorns and produce superb air-dried ham.

It has an impressive old quarter – many of the Conquistadors came from this area and brought their South American fortunes home; a couple of charming arcaded squares; an imposing parish church with a fine altar-piece by the 17th-century artist Zurbaran who was born in a nearby village; a castle built by the local grandee, now a pleasant hotel. For a town roughly the size of Builth it has much to offer.

But it has more in common with Builth than size. Every year at the end of September it holds a livestock show, the Feria de San Miguel, which must be one of the largest in Europe. With more than a million people attending – farmers, stallholders and the general public – it overshadows even the Royal Welsh.

It dates from 1380 when King Juan I granted the right to hold a market. This evolved, achieving its present form in the 1450s. Nowadays, however, the emphasis is less on commerce than on improving breed quality, with some 2,500 fine animals on display.

For those familiar with the Royal Welsh, the variety of breeds is surprisingly narrow – just half a dozen of sheep, perhaps 10 of cattle and only two or three of pigs. But the competition is intense, and the show culminates in a grand official auction, after which winning animals are dispersed across Spain to strengthen bloodlines.

Apart from the livestock quality, a Welsh visitor would be struck by the standard of the showground facilities. They are a testament to the regional government’s commitment to farming and farming communities .

Indeed the atmosphere of the whole occasion was characterised by an all-pervading sense that the government believed in encouraging farmers. Perhaps we have something to learn.

Paddy Rooney is a member of the Wales executive of the Country Land and Business Association, the CLA