MORE than 100 breeders of the red Devon cattle from at least five countries, plus the UK, went to Priorton Barton, East Village on a day of sunshine, showers and a deluge.

Members of the Devon Cattle Breeders Society, established in 1884, they were in the UK for the society’s two-week World Congress.

John May, is future president and his late father, Bill May, was president. Bill was one of the first people to judge the breed overseas, and John is the youngest to have judged at the Royal Show.

John is passionate about the breed, as was his father. He and his wife, Sue, are increasing their Red Devon herd partly to meet the demand for private sales all over the world.

Lunch was provided in one of the barns where artist Ann Kilminster was showing the model of a Priorton bull she had done and pieces of her work.

She said that usually it can take weeks to create a model, this time it was four days. She was in Devon with a workshop near Winkleigh.

She begins with a metal frame on to which she moulds the bones, the muscles, gradually covering the body to find the final animal.

An artist and sculptor, Ann lives near Chepstow, specialising in paintings and sculptures of gundogs, horses and wildlife.

Sue Read