Ploughing, or plowing for us Americans, has huge competitions all over Europe. The Ploughing Championships in Ireland is the largest outdoor agricultural exhibition and show attracting over 200,000 for 3-day event. Wow, 200,000 people attend an event for ploughing. I had to see this. Yesterday I went to Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co. Laois to see what the hype was about. 82,000 people visited yesterday and it was just announced that 124,500 people attend today bringing the 2-day total to 206,500! On the way to breaking last years record breaking event at 228,000 visitors. 

The National Ploughing Championships have something for everyone. Machinery and livestock are present as well as outdoor activity and shops such as woodworking, food, and sports. This year there are 1,400 exhibitors spread out making it hard to see everything. While there was no cow show there was a livestock demonstration telling what is being looked for in beef, dairy, and sheep for market and show. That was cool to see. I visited the livestock tents where farms brought their award winning animals. I talked for a bit with a farmer about the differences in Holstein Friesian and Holstein in the USA and Ireland. Nice to meet friendly people. Farmers are some if the kindest people I meet, always taking time out of their day to talk about their animals.

Holstein Friesian 

Limousin

Belgian Blue-Powerful Animal

The ploughing was fantastic. I had never though of ploughing as a competition sport. Tractor pulling is the big event that deals with machinery for farmers, but ploughing stays in the field. For the event a farmer lends his fields to host the event. The competitors compete in various categories from the under-40 horse ploughing to European Vintage. I was intrigued at the precision that is needed. At the end of a turn the farmer gets out measures his distance between rows, checks depth, and looks at the roll and spacing of the rows. He fixes what needs to be done then starts down the row carefully making sure he is starting right on point and staying straight. These competitions are done in single man teams, but for the horse ploughing there may be teams of 3 or 4. While I did not really know what was going on I had fun watching the ploughing for a while. Most visitors do not go to the actual ploughing, but stay in the exhibition area. Everyone at work kept asking me how is was and assumed that I did not go to the ploughing because many people skip that part. I love agriculture so I would not miss the main event, even though it is not the main attraction.