Wellies and sunglasses in equal measure at Ploughing
Laser-straight lines sliced through softly yielding earth in fields above the teaming muddy lanes of the 92nd Ploughing Championships.
Calves huddled together in stalls as the smell of sizzling burgers drifted alarmingly close by.
People washed mud-caked wellies in bountiful puddles by the entrance before retreating to carparks where plastic roadways snaked through muddy fields, leading drivers to firmer ground after Tuesdays heavy deluges.
However, sunglasses were as useful as raincoats for the 71,800 people who came to the festival in Co Laois on Wednesday as bright sunshine was only occasionally nudged aside by heavy showers.
And although some people stepped somewhat gingerly through the streaming mud, mud was the highlight of the festival for Noah Doyle, nine, and Aaron O’Sullivan, 10, both from Co Kerry who said they enjoyed splashing in it.
Ellie Doyle said that the animals, ponies and calves, were the highlight of her day.
Livestock numbers have seen a steady decline, John Doyle from Dunmanway in Co Cork said as he stood by his pen of four heavy-breed British friesian bulls.
One of the majestic, impeccably groomed animals had already sold to a family from Monaghan.
The bulls sell for some €2,500 each.
Animals still seemed plentiful at the Ploughing, with long-lashed cows and nose-ringed bull sitting serenely in pens with deep straw beds.
Outside, churros and coffee, pizza and kebabs, fashion and eye wateringly expensive farm machinery all jostled for festival-goers attention as they poured up the muddy lanes.
Couples danced to jaunty live country music in Kavanagh’s Bar while outside, vintage machinery chugged out oil blackened clouds like a steampunk fantasy.
Peter Dundon, 12, from Co Tipperary said that seeing all the machinery – which cost up to €500k a piece – was the highlight of the festival for him.
But instead of those half-a-million-euro baler machines he liked, his father Noel Dundon bought him two hurleys.
Some 200 acres of ploughing competitions take place at the festival with 320 competitors in classes ranging from ‘novice’ to the female ‘farmerette’ class, although all ploughing classes are open to women.
Lines must be straight and uniform, with no signs of weeds visible in the upturned soil, Eamon Kiernan supervisor, explained.
He is due to compete in the Single Furrough Cub class today.
John Dillon was protesting outside the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil tents over what he said has been a five-to-six week delay in government payments to farmers.
“Imagine the guards not being paid on time, any civil servant not paid for one month to six weeks?
“130,000 farmers should be paid on time. We’ll take this protest to Dublin if they’re not.
“It’s time for us to stand up and be counted.”
Punters were lured into the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil tents by large counters serving free tea and biscuits and providing respite from the showers.
Green Party representatives were also on hand to talk to the crowds.
MEP Grace O’Sullivan said that discussions had been lively and engaging – from everything from the nitrates derogation to biodiversity.
“The Ploughing Championships for me is enormously important.
"I’m engaging with farmers and we’re having great conversations – about the nitrates derogation, about soil health. The cost of living and the cost of food is a big conversation. Producing good healthy food must be supported.
"I love being here. Yesterday it rained like hell but today, there is sunshine."
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