Devon County Show’s annual Ewe and Lamb Shearing and Dog Trials event due to be held on August 12  at Sidbury, near Sidmouth, has fallen foul of this summer’s bad weather.

 

The Devon County Show’s Shearing Committee made the decision based on the impact the wet summer is having on the farming sector.

Ollie Allen, Devon County Show Secretary, said: “With the weather we have experienced, and not being able to trust it to give us a continuous dry spell, once the good weather does arrive shearers will be busy shearing sheep for a living and farmers will be busy cutting crops.”

 

Gavin Stevens, Chairman of Devon County Show’s Shearing Committee, added: “It’s a great shame having to cancel this year’s competition but hopefully the weather will be kinder to everything next year.”

Planning is already underway for next year’s event, which has been scheduled for Sunday, August 11, 2013.

Meanwhile, some one day shows in Devon have also been cancelled or postponed.

Ollie Allen commented: “It is a great shame when the knock-on effects of an exceptionally wet few months forces a Show Committee to cancel an event they have been working for more than a year to stage.

“These decisions are never taken lightly and are always made with the best interests of visitors, exhibitors and trade stands holders at heart.

"If the ground is too wet to take the volume of traffic, both vehicles and people, in the lead-up to and throughout the Show, it is impossible to carry on with the event. 

"We have a dry spell at the moment but the Met Office cannot guarantee it will last more than a few days.  It is soul destroying for the Show organisers