NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS - What's the appeal?

LordSutch

The last few days there's been wall to wall coverage on Irish radio and TV, the weather forecasts have been broadcast live from the ploughing championships, many of the radio shows today are also coming direct to you from the National Ploughing Championships in New Ross - But why?

I fully understand that farmers will be soiling themselves with excitement at the prospect of the agricultural gathering, with Massey Ferguson tractors, bailing machines, heffers, milking machines, combine harvesters, bulls, bullocks, and all that on display, but what about the rest of us? http://iomst.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/national-ploughing-championships.jpg

As a non farmer should I/we the rest of us be interested in the National Ploughing Championships?

Dravokivich

I don't have much interest in GAA, but that's all over everything as well.

seamus

By all accounts very few people bother even watching the "competition" and it most cases it's an excuse to go drinking and eating at the 1,200 stalls that have been set up.

CreepingDeath

LordSutch wrote: »

As a non farmer should I/we the rest of us be interested in the National Ploughing Championships?

If you're driving around there, it's worth knowing that you'll be stuck behind a shiteload of tractors on those country roads.

Where To

You should take a dander down and find out OP
I think you will be surprised.

Birneybau

Oxegen for farmers.

gobnaitolunacy

For some reason it's never over a weekend, like they're trying to filter out 9-5ers.

I think it may be more to do with the other stuff going on, rather than the ploughing.

WhimSock

I was thinking of going to bag me a farmer but 20E in is a load of me hole.

gobnaitolunacy

€20?

Screw that.

kfallon

Does it move around every year, I always thought it was on in Carlow for some reason

the groutch

it's the new Galway races, all the "business" gets conducted there :rolleyes:.

Morrisseeee

I think it's the 'Glastonberry' equivalent for farmers :pac:
/see what I did there

From the NPA.ie site:

Taking place from the 25th to 27th of September, the championships will require over 700 acres including 180 acres of competitions, 80 acres of trade arenas and demonstrations, and hundreds of acres to accommodate the free car parking.


Last year the championships attracted 190,000 people during the 3 days making it the largest show of its kind in Europe.

This year over 500 temporary staff, mostly volunteers, will be need to help with the smooth running of the event. – - – This will include hundreds of stewards and over 100 judges & supervisors.

A study carried out by UCD at the 2011 Championships showed that the visitors spent just over €36 million during the 3 days of the event in 2011. This resulted in a tax take of €6.6 million for the National Exchequer

Mr Benevolent

Mud. Mud and tractors. Tractors are cool in a mucky, industrial sort of way. I believe the theme song for the championships has always been Dueling Banjos.

gobnaitolunacy

It does boggle the mind how something like preparation for planting crops gets competitive.

National Lawnmowing Championships anyone?

kfallon

Did Richie Kavanagh sing the National Anthem (I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester) at the opeining ceremony?

Birneybau

Birneybau wrote: »

Oxegen for farmers.

Wellies, bit of minge, smell of fish.......
Great day out.

eth0

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

€20?

Screw that.

You have to pay to get in now? back in my day it was free. Maybe it wasn't actually free but I was on a bicycle so no need to pay for parking and I might have snuck in can't remember

Conmaicne Mara

LordSutch wrote: »

As a non farmer should I/we the rest of us be interested in the National Ploughing Championships?

It's the biggest outdoor event in Europe, regularly attracts between 180,000 and 200,000 people each year. Though the first days attendance this year is down 19,000 on the first day last year. That is due to the weather, the location and fear of that bridge in New Ross.

Not to give you a short answer, but the only way you'll know if it's for you or not is to go and give everything a good look over. There'll be agri machinery, ploughing, and livestock of course but there's a lot more to do with the rural economy as well.

dark crystal

Can't say I get what all the fuss is about either. Standing for hours in the cold, getting wet, using rancid porta-toilets and paying a tenner for a manky burger whilst watching farmers ploughing in the mud doesn't appeal at all.

Oh wait...I see there's also a sheep dog trial, welly throwing, Irish dancing and a sheep shearing demonstration - count me in!

nudger

Bam Bam Mickey wrote: »

Wellies, bit of minge, smell of fish.......
Great day out.

Your a bold boy Mickey.:pac:

dark crystal

dark crystal wrote: »

Can't say I get what all the fuss is about either. Standing for hours in the cold, getting wet, using rancid porta-toilets and paying a tenner for a manky burger whilst watching farmers ploughing in the mud doesn't appeal at all.

Oh wait...I see there's also a sheep dog trial, welly throwing, Irish dancing and a sheep shearing demonstration - count me in!

Don't forget the Crane Of Death.
There's a youngfella killed on it every year, great fun.

dark crystal

Bam Bam Mickey wrote: »

Don't forget the Crane Of Death.
There's a youngfella killed on it every year, great fun.

Sounds gas.....now just add a tunnel of Goats and that €20 admission fee is looking like money well spent.

bbam

I'm from a farming background and would go most years but not this year...

There are three aspects to the event;
The Ploughing itself, purely a competition for different classes of machinery to see who can plough a field the best based on certain criteria, mostly its a real "anorack's" thing, personally watching the ploughing with teams of horses is interesting, the rest of the ploughing only of interest to very few farmers.
Business & Trade Stands, Its a huge collection of agri related trade stands, farmers thinking of investing in machinery, sheds or stock can see all options side by side and there are many deals available on the day.. Handy way to do business, all suppliers competing side by side for business. This is why 90% of farming community go along. Even if your not buying, its a chance to see the most modern equipment and maybe take back some ideas to use..
The crack
There is a fair bit of crack at the ploughing event and in the pubs around if you are staying over, some lads would use it as their only days "holidays" in the year.. personally I find two weeks in France much more appealing..

In fairness its the biggest event of its type in Europe and will bring about €30million in earnings for the area.. the agri sector is huge in Ireland..

Timothy Bryce

A great event to meet a fine woman to roast the shpuds while I'm out bailin' hay.

eth0

Timothy Bryce wrote: »

A great event to meet a fine woman to roast the shpuds while I'm out bailin' hay.

You won't be bailin' much hay in this weather

spank_inferno

To echo the prev poster, there is a lot going on at these championchips.

Previous year's highlights include:

http://www.ybig.ie/forum/uploads/403/fun-land-father-ted.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsfu3lqyPq1r47ilvo1_500.jpg

I'd highly recommend checking out the 'spinning cat' stand, if it's at this years show

spank_inferno

Also.... there is a live camera feed from the event.

Weather looks choppy!
Latest image here:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LhETezcvaDk/S6Zreg1JFrI/AAAAAAAAAGY/ZZdOq3o7WGA/s400/Screenshot_Funland.jpg



(ok...I'll get my coat ....)

Gone Drinking

I've been down to it probably 4 or 5 times. I worked in sales/technical support on a stand for a company I worked for a few years back.

It's full of farmers, sure, but there's also the family of farmers, who have grown up to become highly qualified engineers etc.

I'll admit, loads of it is just farmers and farmers kids walking around, looking at all the heavy farming/construction equipment, eating burgers and drinking. but there's also a lot of very qualified people at the show.

We used to do very well with sales at it. I've seen people spending big money on equipment of all kinds down there. That's why these large equipment companies spend the big bucks for stands and transporting equipment over every year.

GastroBoy

There's more than the fields getting ploughed if ye catch my drift....:D

admiralofthefleet

Horny farmers daughters

stevenmu

Well I was ploughing this bird the other day, and she said I was good enough for the national championships. Sounded pretty appealing to me.




/AH answer

starbelgrade

bbam wrote: »

There is a fair bit of crack at the ploughing event and in the pubs around

Farmers on drugs? Sounds like great craic.

AnonoBoy

Get a wife.
Have a pint.
Have the craic.

iregk

Ok I'll be honest here. I've been a couple of times and very rarely actually watched any ploughing. Not there this year. It's great craic in all fairness and I tend to spend my time going from bar to food stalls and music spots. It's a lot bigger than you would think and I hear on the radio this morning it is now the largest agricultural event in all of Europe. I think that is something to be proud of.

Ireland holds the largest annual women only event in the entire world and now we have the largest agricultural event in Europe. Not bad for a small island.

Galwayguy35

I think it's mostly about the machinery these days.

Anyone who grew up on a farm will have a fair idea how costly tractors etc are so it's big business for the companies involved to advertise their goods.

davetherave

You can see what machine that cute hoor from across the road / up the far end / the other parish is buying and buy the bigger model just to one-up him..

nice1franko

There's loads of stuff at it:

http://www.npa.ie/2012-programme-of-events/

http://www.npa.ie/2012-exhibitors/

Basically, it's a massive three-day fair with loads of food, drinks, shows, contests, samples from businesses (e.g. you'll prob have Mr. Tayho givin out free 'crips'), etc.

deadly buzz. they just call it the ploughing championships to put the dubs off going to it.

Fratton Fred

Is there any truth in the rumours that these three days are the quietest of the year in coppers?

Gauss

What I don't get is why it's so popular all of a sudden, 15 years ago most people didn't even know it existed?

Quorum

kfallon wrote: »

Does it move around every year, I always thought it was on in Carlow for some reason

It's often in Carlow but seems to move around the South East.

Morrisseeee

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Get a wife.
Have a pint.
Have the craic.

Sounds good, can I pick out any wife, do they line up or something ?




:pac:

Palytoxin

Anytime I've been, we've always watched a bit of the ploughing, mainly the horse ploughing. I've gone to it about 7 or 8 times, I'm not going this year though. If you actually live on a farm and have even a slight interest in agriculture you could nearly spend 2 days in it there's that much stuff there. It's handy in that if you're looking to buy something you can see the products of several different companies in the one place. Say we bought a bulk tank last year, but we were able to see loads of different models at the ploughing without having to visit their shops.

LordSutch

Muck slurry & silage plus a day in the rain, wonderful

snowman707

Gauss wrote: »

What I don't get is why it's so popular all of a sudden, 15 years ago most people didn't even know it existed?

oh yes they did and it was attracting as almost the same numbers as it is to day

only difference was there was no boards.ie

Pherekydes

LordSutch wrote: »

Muck slurry & silage plus a day in the rain, wonderful

When you put it like that it sounds more appealing than attending the Ryder Cup (or even watching it on telly).

iregk

Gauss wrote: »

What I don't get is why it's so popular all of a sudden, 15 years ago most people didn't even know it existed?

You mean just because you didn't know it existed? It's been getting savage crowds for years. Just because you or other people didn't know or hear about it until recent years doesn't mean it's all of a sudden gotten so popular.

gobnaitolunacy

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Sounds good, can I pick out any wife, do they line up or something ?




:pac:

Look for the marks of the wellingtons. If they don't have those, they're no good.

fryup

i always thought Ireland was now a sophisticated modern country, but after being at the ploughing yesterday i think i may have to change my mind

i've never seen so many boggers, culchies, inbreds, rednecks, yokels, and general gombeenism in all my life ..i thought we were beyond that?

eth0

fryup wrote: »

i always thought Ireland was now a sophisticated modern country, but after being at the ploughing yesterday i think i may have to change my mind

i've never seen so many boggers, culchies, inbreds, rednecks, yokels, and general gombeenism in all my life ..i thought we were beyond that?

Sophisticated & modern = overrated

barbiegirl

fryup wrote: »

i always thought Ireland was now a sophisticated modern country, but after being at the ploughing yesterday i think i may have to change my mind

i've never seen so many boggers, culchies, inbreds, rednecks, yokels, and general gombeenism in all my life ..i thought we were beyond that?

Must have been at a different championship to me. I was down for work, making contacts with the sales managers of some very big companies who were there. Even got a couple of good prospects.

I certainly didn't see as many inbreds, yokels and gombeens as I would in certain areas of Dublin.

Conmaicne Mara

fryup wrote: »

i always thought Ireland was now a sophisticated modern country, but after being at the ploughing yesterday i think i may have to change my mind

i've never seen so many boggers, culchies, inbreds, rednecks, yokels, and general gombeenism in all my life ..i thought we were beyond that?

Yet you name yourself after something which all originates on a farm and has been raised, grown, handled, bought, sold, fattened, harvested by "boggers, culchies, inbreds, rednecks, yokels".

You can thank us when you get a minute :cool: