It’s over – so ends another agricultural show season in Northern Ireland – possibly the best and most vibrant in living memory.
The sun shone for most of the time – with the odd exception – and the crowds came out in force to take it all in.
It is hard to believe that many commentators were predicting the demise of agricultural shows in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reality has seen developments of a polar opposite nature taking effect. Very large numbers of the general public have woken up to the fact that a day out at the local show is an experience that meets the needs of young and old in equal measure.
Livestock is important business at an agri show
Meanwhile, the showing of livestock has become a very serious business altogether.
The reality is, that many pedigree livestock breeders have spent very large sums of money in procuring elite genetics that they will be using to underpin their businesses now and into the future.
It’s a scenario that bodes well for livestock farming as a whole across the island of Ireland. But, it also makes for extremely exciting championship classes when it comes to taking these same animals into the competition rings.
The Limousin, Simmental and Charolais competitions held over recent weeks featured a range of animals that would have carried the day at events held anywhere in Europe.
Dairy and sheep enthusiasts were equally well catered for with stock exhibited throughout the 2024 show season, which were of exceptional genetic merit.
Another encouraging theme to this year’s show season, was the tremendous increase in the number of entries for all the ‘young handlers’ competitions.
A case in point was Clogher Valley Show, where organisers had to almost double the size of the showring to cater for the number of enthusiasts taking part in the beef young handlers’ event.
Funding Northern Ireland agri shows
The only downside to the 2024 show season, was the continuing refusal of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to core fund the various agricultural societies.
This is despite the clear recommendation from the chief executive of the Royal Welsh Show, Aled Rhys Jones, that such should be the case.
Back in 2022, he had been specifically commissioned by the then Stormont agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, to investigate the potential for DAERA to core fund Northern Ireland’s agricultural shows.
His report was published in June of last year and immediately relegated to a book shelf, where it has since gathered dust – not DAERA’s finest hour, in my opinion.
