Will you go to the ploughing championship?2

Reggie.

lakill Farm wrote: »

Mullingar, tullamore, m-mellick, portlaoise out the Carlow/stradbally road

Nope. Follow the route signposted as it got piority at every junction. Coming back I skipped over to Portarlington and to tullamore as mountmellick was at a standstill

Reggie.

lakill Farm wrote: »

go early :rolleyes:

reggie will milk for you

Could have came with me today. Lakill wanted to go for coffee instead. I reckon he just couldn't get out of the bed

lakill Farm

Reggie. wrote: »

Could have came with me today. Lakill wanted to go for coffee instead. I reckon he just couldn't get out of the bed

I had a meeting. grand coffee and scone in the hotel

then down the road for the roll for lunch

td5man

Reggie. wrote: »

Could have came with me today. Lakill wanted to go for coffee instead. I reckon he just couldn't get out of the bed

Wasn't going this year but the bigger little farmers want to go.

Reggie.

lakill Farm wrote: »

I had a meeting. grand coffee and scone in the hotel

then down the road for the roll for lunch

I'll remember that :mad:

lakill Farm

Reggie. wrote: »

I'll remember that :mad:

they do a savage breakfast for €4.50

Reggie.

lakill Farm wrote: »

they do a savage breakfast for €4.50

Well myself and Limofarmer had one today aswell

Farrell

Reggie. wrote: »

Nope. Follow the route signposted as it got piority at every junction. Coming back I skipped over to Portarlington and to tullamore as mountmellick was at a standstill

We did Edenderry- Portarlington on way yesterday with no delay till close to site (on Longford bypass at 630), as Tullamore exit was closed, home via Tullamore.

bt12

might go tomorrow, have john deere a stand

whelan2

where is it next year?

Limofarmer

Reggie. wrote: »

Well myself and Limofarmer had one today aswell

Great to have seen ya .no wind today 👀 very calm . 😎 Got home 8.30 ish . Had a good day . was on the ground at 7.30 this am . Traffic was relativey stress free . Stopped for the dinner on way home . Bed early me thinks.

Mad4simmental

whelan2 wrote: »

where is it next year?

Tullamore

Reggie.

Limofarmer wrote: »

Great to have seen ya .no wind today 👀 very calm . 😎 Got home 8.30 ish . Had a good day . was on the ground at 7.30 this am . Traffic was relativey stress free . Stopped for the dinner on way home . Bed early me thinks.

Same as. Nice to catch up. Traffic good when I left at 1600hrs.

Reggie.

bt12 wrote: »

might go tomorrow, have john deere a stand

I didn't see one

foxy farmer

What time do the gates open?. Heard a neighbour landed at 700 this morning and had to wait till nearly 8 for gates to open. Some stands not opened till 9.00

patsy_mccabe

Over 206,000 attended the first 2 days. Mad!

White Clover

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Over 206,000 attended the first 2 days. Mad!

I'd say they are massaging the numbers !
No way in hell was there 127000 there yesterday. I would say closer to half of that going by last year's throngs on day 2.

_Brian

White Clover wrote: »

I'd say they are massaging the numbers !
No way in hell was there 127000 there yesterday. I would say closer to half of that going by last year's throngs on day 2.

Was there yesterday and would say the very same.. Much easier to move about and stands less crowded.. guy in the office here says the same, he hasn't missed a ploughing event in over 10 years and ran stands there for years, says it was the smallest day's crowd he saw in maybe 5 years, more like 70-80,000..

MfMan

Wouldn't entirely agree. Very noticeable from 12pm onwards yesterday how crowded it was, how difficult it was to move along the tracks and alleys. Doubt they'd have a reason to fib. I left at 3.30pm and there was a steady stream leaving then also, but still a few more entering. This probably padded it a bit.

Reggie.

White Clover wrote: »

I'd say they are massaging the numbers !
No way in hell was there 127000 there yesterday. I would say closer to half of that going by last year's throngs on day 2.

Def agree

patsy_mccabe

If they inflate numbers, they would have to show the gate receipts on their accounts.:)

whelan2

Would they be including the exhibitors and work people in their figures

_Brian

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

If they inflate numbers, they would have to show the gate receipts on their accounts.:)

Why ??
I could claim on FB that my business was doing 127,000 transactions a day, but there is no responsibility for me to show this in my accounts !

Maybe the walk ways were wider (I didn't think so), but there was no stage that I felt them as busy as last year.. even on the stands there was more space to get served and talking to reps..

Leaving at 3:30 I didn't think the carparks were as full..

bogman_bass

Was going to go today But looking out the window I'm glad I didnt now

Reggie.

bogman_bass wrote: »

Was going to go today But looking out the window I'm glad I didnt now

Bone dry here

_Brian

I went into the "innovation" tent yesterday.. Came out a bit disappointed, there was a guy there selling feeds that he has been selling for more than 15years..

Saw a few new interesting products on stands and demonstrations, the swivel attachment for track machines looked good, very versatile.. Saw the Huskavarna lads demonstrating the processor on the front of the teleporter, looked handy enough..

LELY robotic milking didn't pull the crowds it pulled for the last two years.. wonder is it worth that level of investment for next year..

White Clover

_Brian wrote: »

I went into the "innovation" tent yesterday.. Came out a bit disappointed, there was a guy there selling feeds that he has been selling for more than 15years..

Saw a few new interesting products on stands and demonstrations, the swivel attachment for track machines looked good, very versatile.. Saw the Huskavarna lads demonstrating the processor on the front of the teleporter, looked handy enough..

LELY robotic milking didn't pull the crowds it pulled for the last two years.. wonder is it worth that level of investment for next year..

The Fullwood robot is a good way ahead of the LELY imo. Was awfully disappointed when I saw the Delaval one. The cluster removal method is just awful on them.

Morrisseeee

I went yesterday with my 4 year old. He loves tractors and esp Tractor Ted, so when he goes in the gate the first thing he sees is........you-know-who
/no, not Enda Kenny :pac:

I thought it was busy yesterday, all pathways, tents were busy, also a fair amount of students just sitting around.

Q. How do they count the number that go in, ie. ticket receipts or a rough count at the gates. Do they count the children under 12 for example ?

As regards traffic, it would have been perfect only for the Abbeyleix bit !!!

The amount of free food was a plus

foxy farmer

Saw a few adults slip in without paying. Timed it so that when the lads checking the wristbands were busy they then sidestepped them. Saw 2 women getting caught and being sent back to the ticket huts.

_Brian

foxy farmer wrote: »

Saw a few adults slip in without paying. Timed it so that when the lads checking the wristbands were busy they then sidestepped them. Saw 2 women getting caught and being sent back to the ticket huts.

got charged Student rate :D ... or could have been OAP :eek::eek:

Not quite sure..

foxy farmer

_Brian wrote: »

got charged Student rate :D ... or could have been OAP :eek::eek:

Not quite sure..

Mature student maybe?

Sam Kade

Anyone see Marty up the pole? they should have tied down the rope when they had him up there and leave him there for a while.

whelan2

Sam Kade wrote: »

Anyone see Marty up the pole? they should have tied down the rope when they had him up there and leave him there for a while.

just saw him there on the amusement ride, fair play.

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

just saw him there on the amusement ride, fair play.

Jaysus, he'll frighten the children.

whelan2

Sam Kade wrote: »

Jaysus, he'll frighten the children.

Went on a similar ride on my holidays with my daughter, was terrible. When it was over eldest lad said he wanted to go so I had to go again:eek:
closed my eyes the second time

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

Went on a similar ride on my holidays with my daughter, was terrible. When it was over eldest lad said he wanted to go so I had to go again:eek:
closed my eyes the second time

Was it on rte that you saw Marty on that ride? I'll be looking at the recording of it later on.

whelan2

Sam Kade wrote: »

Was it on rte that you saw Marty on that ride? I'll be looking at the recording of it later on.

ye at the end of live at the ploughing

Base price

Just home now after grub and a few drinks on the way. We left at 5.30 this morning. Had a pleasant day although my feet don't agree.
Got to see the Loy digging and bought myself a piggie umbrella

Farrell

Base price wrote: »

Just home now after grub and a few drinks on the way. We left at 5.30 this morning. Had a pleasant day although my feet don't agree.
Got to see the Loy digging and bought myself a piggie umbrella

Fredericks?

Base price

Farrell wrote: »

Fredericks?

Pikers Lodge

blue5000

Went yesterday, I think the roadways were wider and they didn't have the names of the stands at the intersections. This meant people weren't stopping at the intersections to read the 'sign posts'. The combination of wider roads and ppl moving freely made it a better experience IMO. Saw one lad in a wheel chair and TBH he looked frustrated, something to bear in mind if anyone has a family member in a wheelchair.

Young lad got a few treats at mad for models, and a couple of hats, apart from some food that's all we bought. Priced a few bits here and there, picked up a good few business cards, and spent a good bit of time chatting in the livestock area.

I heard stands were expensive, 5k for a small outdoor one, water and electric extra. 500 for an indoor booth in the enterprise village. No wonder there wasn't as many freebies as other years, very disappointed to see irish independent charging for a paper and a bag, denis 0'ligarth must be feeling the heat as we all get our news off the net instead of getting yesterday's news off the paper!

Highlight for me was the icbf/farmers journal/bord bia livestock exhibition. Why? It was very sobering to see an 850kg U+ ch bullock, fit to kill, and see one steak from an equivalent animal in a plastic tray compared to two small steaks from a fr bullock, and being told that the two small steaks were better value. This is the sort of info that one needs when choosing a bull. Unless the housewife gets a sharp knife and cuts the big fcuking steak in half before she puts it on the pan:eek:

Overall a good experience, well worth the entrance money, Tullamore next yr so might go two days to try and see a bit more, I reckon I only saw half of what I wanted to see.

Hugh 2

blue5000 wrote: »

, Tullamore next yr so might go two days to try and see a bit more, I reckon I only saw half of what I wanted to see.

Tullamore is a bit far for me to go more than once.
I had heard that it was going to be in Limerick..

road_high

Hugh 2 wrote: »

Tullamore is a bit far for me to go more than once.
I had heard that it was going to be in Limerick..

Limerick really? I honestly don't think it'll ever go down that side again as it's become quite a Dublin influenced event plus they'd get more stands/business to attend in Leinster (just my opinion btw).

MfMan

blue5000 wrote: »

Highlight for me was the icbf/farmers journal/bord bia livestock exhibition. Why? It was very sobering to see an 850kg U+ ch bullock, fit to kill, and see one steak from an equivalent animal in a plastic tray compared to two small steaks from a fr bullock, and being told that the two small steaks were better value. This is the sort of info that one needs when choosing a bull. Unless the housewife gets a sharp knife and cuts the big fcuking steak in half before she puts it on the pan:eek:

Overall a good experience, well worth the entrance money, Tullamore next yr so might go two days to try and see a bit more, I reckon I only saw half of what I wanted to see.

Saw the Bord Bia display Wed. Seriously doubted the weight of that CHX, nowhere near big enough.

Like you, would nearly need 2 days next year to see all that I would have hoped for. Is it in the same venue in Tullamore as a few years ago? Very serious difficulties getting out of car park that time.

road_high

It was in Tullamore area in 2007 but it was more out the Portarlington side. I found that one prefect for getting in and out of too.

patsy_mccabe

I think they're mad to change from that venue. Anywhere else and it's going to be a traffic nighmare. For a crowd that big they need roads to spiral out in all directions and be as close as possible to a large motorway.

Reggie.

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I think they're mad to change from that venue. Anywhere else and it's going to be a traffic nighmare. For a crowd that big they need roads to spiral out in all directions and be as close as possible to a large motorway.

I'd say it'll find its way back to this site

road_high

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I think they're mad to change from that venue. Anywhere else and it's going to be a traffic nighmare. For a crowd that big they need roads to spiral out in all directions and be as close as possible to a large motorway.

Id say it's not all that easy get a farmer and all their neighbours to agree and hold it every year in the same place.

rangler1

blue5000 wrote: »

Went yesterday, I think the roadways were wider and they didn't have the names of the stands at the intersections. This meant people weren't stopping at the intersections to read the 'sign posts'. The combination of wider roads and ppl moving freely made it a better experience IMO. Saw one lad in a wheel chair and TBH he looked frustrated, something to bear in mind if anyone has a family member in a wheelchair.

Young lad got a few treats at mad for models, and a couple of hats, apart from some food that's all we bought. Priced a few bits here and there, picked up a good few business cards, and spent a good bit of time chatting in the livestock area.

I heard stands were expensive, 5k for a small outdoor one, water and electric extra. 500 for an indoor booth in the enterprise village. No wonder there wasn't as many freebies as other years, very disappointed to see irish independent charging for a paper and a bag, denis 0'ligarth must be feeling the heat as we all get our news off the net instead of getting yesterday's news off the paper!

Highlight for me was the icbf/farmers journal/bord bia livestock exhibition. Why? It was very sobering to see an 850kg U+ ch bullock, fit to kill, and see one steak from an equivalent animal in a plastic tray compared to two small steaks from a fr bullock, and being told that the two small steaks were better value. This is the sort of info that one needs when choosing a bull. Unless the housewife gets a sharp knife and cuts the big fcuking steak in half before she puts it on the pan:eek:

Overall a good experience, well worth the entrance money, Tullamore next yr so might go two days to try and see a bit more, I reckon I only saw half of what I wanted to see.

Farmers would rather whinge about weight limits than learn what the customer wants....processors have to deal in the real world, farmer throw everything at them and then wonder why factories have to dump it on the market at a bad price

sean1141

Reggie. wrote:

I'd say it'll find its way back to this site

there was talks of it being back in the next couple of years.

blue5000 wrote:

No wonder there wasn't as many freebies as other years

Only got a couple of pens and keyrings and a hat myself over the 3 days but then again and lot of places were closed when we got around to seeing them in the evenings.. but there seemed to be very few places handing out anything