The Dairy Show is an annual British

agricultural show An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which selective breeding, breed ...

, organised by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. It was founded in 1876 and was first held at the

Agricultural Hall The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed building located between Upper Street and Liverpool Road in the district of Islington in London, England. It was opened in 1862, originally named the Agricultural Hall and from 1884 the Royal Agri ...

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London; it was later held at

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

, London, and then moved to the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre at

Stoneleigh Park Stoneleigh Park, known between 1963 and 2013 as the National Agricultural Centre, is a business park located south-west of the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England. It is home to the Stoneleigh conference and exhibition centre. History ...

, in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. It is now held as part of the annual Livestock Event at the

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway stati ...

, in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

. The show was originally known as the Metropolitan Dairy Show. Goats, pigs and poultry were included in the show from its earliest years. The introduction of milking trials and tests of

butterfat Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain. Composition Butterfat is mainly composed of triglycerides. Each triglyceride contains three fatty acids. Butt ...

and

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

content of milk at the show in 1879 was both a response to, and a contributory factor in, the progressive trend towards

selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strategie ...

of stock for productive traits rather than purely for

physical appearance Human physical appearance is the outward phenotype or look of human beings. There are infinite variations in human phenotypes, though society reduces the variability to distinct categories. The physical appearance of humans, in particular those a ...

The first Dairy Show

The first Dairy Show was held from 24 – 27 October 1876. Some 150 milch cows were shown; there were prizes of 100

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...

each for the best

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

cow and for the best other-breed cow, which went to a

Shorthorn The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emp ...

. The total prize-money for cattle was 500 guineas, about half the total for the show. Butter and cheeses were exhibited, and there were demonstrations of cheese-making and butter-churning. One exhibitor entered more than 1000

Stilton cheese Stilton is an English cheese, produced in two varieties: Blue, which has '' Penicillium roqueforti'' added to generate a characteristic smell and taste, and White, which does not. Both have been granted the status of a protected designation of o ...

s in the show. Dairy equipment and machinery was exhibited and judged. Other livestock, including goats and poultry, was also shown. There were about 500 entries in the poultry section, which included chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys.

Hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

, grains and

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

were also exhibited. The attendance at the exhibition was much greater than had been anticipated by the organisers. Special trains were laid on by the major railway companies, including the

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

, the Great Western, the London and South-Western, the London and North-Western and the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

. The British Dairy Farmers' Association was formed at a meeting during the exhibition, at the instigation of J. Prince Sheldon. File:Harrison Weir, The Dairy Show at the Agriculture Hall, Prize Cows; The Illustrated London News, 1876.jpg,

Harrison Weir Harrison William Weir (5 May 18243 January 1906), known as "The Father of the Cat Fancy", was a British artist. He organised the first cat show in England, at the Crystal Palace, London, in July 1871. He and his brother, John Jenner Weir, bo ...

, ''The Dairy Show at the Agriculture Hall: Prize Cows''; ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'', 1876 File:Cheese and Butter Making and Prize Cheeses at the Dairy Show; The Illustrated London News, 1876.jpg, ''Cheese and Butter Making and Prize Cheeses at the Dairy Show''; ''The Illustrated London News'', 1876 File:Sketches at the Dairy Show, London; The Illustrated London News, 1881.jpg, ''Sketches at the Dairy Show''; ''The Illustrated London News'', 1881 File:Cattle at the Dairy Show, Islington; The Graphic, 1887.jpg, ''Cattle at the Dairy Show, Islington''; ''The Graphic'', 1887

References

{{reflist, refs= .n.(16 October 1920)
A Record of Dairy Progress and Propaganda
''Dairy World and the British Dairy Farmer''. {{nobreak, Page 208–209. Hugh Chisholm (editor) (1911)
Dairy
''Encyclopædia Britannica'', eleventh edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Peter J. Atkins, Peter Lummel, Derek J. Oddy (2016)
''Food and the City in Europe since 1800''
second edition. London; New York: Routledge, 2016. {{ISBN, 9780754649892. Richie Nimmo (2010)
''Milk, Modernity and the Making of the Human: Purifying the Social''
London; New York: Routledge. {{ISBN, 9780415558747. The History - 139 Years of Progress
RABDF Events. Archived 7 August 2016. RABDF History
Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. Accessed June 2016. .n.(23 December 1876)
The London Dairy Show
''The Sydney Mail''. {{nobreak, Page 807. Front-page matter (small ads)
''The Times'', 24 October 1876. 1876 establishments in the United Kingdom Agricultural shows in England Dairy farming in the United Kingdom Festivals established in 1876