Category: 2013 Archive

Minister Coveney Launches the Ploughing in Laois

There was smiles and building excitement today as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr. Simon Coveney T.D. launched the 2013 National Ploughing Championship due to take place in Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co. Laois three weeks from now on the 24th – 26th September.

Minister Coveney stated ‘he is looking forward to spending three days at this year’s festival as he senses it will be the most successful Championships today and he believes the location at the crossroads of Ireland is perfect for those set to travel’ The Minster congratulated our World Ploughing Champions and stated the event, built on turning a sod brings competitors from all over the country to the one spot to ‘turn the sod’. The Minister took time to travel the entire site and hop on a tractor with local landowner David Carter who will soon play host to Europe’s largest agricultural event.

Providing a platform to showcase Irish Food, Farming and Culture this event incorporates all sectors of agriculture and rural living from the latest development in Agri. Machinery to a comprehensive exhibits of Livestock Breeds, Animal Husbandry, Motors, Forestry, and trade tents with Education &Business services, Craft stalls, Food producers, Health & Lifestyle demos and Tourism outlets with all the latest staycation bargains.

If it’s relevant to farming its relevant to the Ploughing with product launches, specialist’s talks, advisers across areas such as dog control, worming, gardening all on hand to answer queries. Live Robotic Milking from Lely is a new feature for 2013 and the Vintage Live Tractor Build makes a welcome return.
If that’s not enough then take some time out to enjoy the packed programme of Ploughing competitions, live entertainment all day at the Bandstand, Sheep Dog Trials, Loy Digging, Hunt Chase, Sheep Shearing Competitions, Husqvarna Hurdle, Portwest Welly Throwing, Meggars, Outdoor Radio Broadcasts, Celebrity Visitors including sports stars and TV personalities, most Appropriately Dressed Competitions, Craft Demonstrations, Celebrity Chefs and much more.

The site located on the farm of the Carter family is currently under infrastructural construction to facilitate the 100 acres needed for the trade arena & demonstrations and 150 acres earmarked for ploughing. In addition to this over 400 acres of the surrounding lands will be used to facilitate the free car parking sites by local land owners in the surrounding area.

At today’s launch, the Minister and special guests were treated to entertainment by local performers from Laois and guests were also treated to a display of vintage, reversible and conventional ploughs.

Following the official launch, models from the Holman Lee modelling agency took to a mini catwalk to provide a glimpse of the highly anticipated fashion shows that will take place throughout the three days of the event. Local and national boutiques/fashion houses provided a taster of the latest styles and the fashion of the forthcoming season.

With site preparations well underway, the 22 km of steel roadways is now nearly complete and the site is ready for exhibitors to build their stands over the coming weeks– stand structures will vary from exclusive display trailers to marquees, sheds, timber houses and some very elaborate visual presentations.

Attendance numbers this year are expected to be in excess of last year’s 187,000. Already 1,300 exhibitors have booked stand at this year’s event and there is currently a waiting list in operation which marks a substantial increase in stands since last year.

Upwards of 330 ploughing competitors will compete over the 3 day event to win National Titles, qualify for next year’s World and European Ploughing Contests and write themselves into the ploughing history books and avail of over €18,000 in competition prizes.

Speaking at the launch, Managing Director of the National Ploughing Association, Ms Anna May McHugh said “Given Laois strong links with the National Ploughing Championships and excellent ploughing conditions, it was very befitting that the championships returns to the county this year. The 2013 Championships will mark the 5th staging of the event within the county, with the last venue at in Ballincolla in 2005. It is also marks 82 years since Wexford man Denis Allen first held the competition.

Ploughing Returns to Ratheniska 79 Years On

The National Ploughing will take place in Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co. Laois on 24th, 25th, 26th September 2013 bridging a 70 year gap since the Championships was last held in the area.

David Carter and his family will be the main landowners with many neighboring farmers providing ploughing and parking ground to meet the requirement of 700 acres for this huge National and International Event. 

The impact of the Ploughing Championships in 2011 was a staggering €36 million and plans for the 2013 event are nearly complete. This very central Laois location just off the N80 and M7 is expected to draw an even bigger attendance than 2012’s figure of 187,000. 

Ms Anna May McHugh, Managing Director of the NPA said “I’m obviously delighted that the event is in my home county this year and I have enjoyed the build-up working with the people of Ratheniska, Stradbally and Laois to make this one of our best events yet.
 
The venue in Ratheniska marks 70 years since the Championships were first held in county Laois and on that occasion, Lamerton, Ratheniska hosted the event in 1943.  Since then the Championships were also held in Ballacolla, Co. Laois in 1995, 2000 and 2002.  2013 will mark the 5th time for the National Ploughing Championships to take place in the O’Moore County.

The Ploughing fields in Co. Laois will play host to World Ploughing Champion medalists John Whelan and Eamon Treacey who won massive ploughing accolades this year in Canada with Gold and Bronze medals.

Live Robotic Milking Takes Centre Stage At Ploughing 2013

Lely the world leader in robotic milking systems and the NPA join forces for the first ever live robotic milking demonstration at a trade exhibition in Ireland.

A herd of 40 cows will arrive to the Ploughing site the weekend before the event to settle in and get used to the environment so that during Ploughing week they will just be milked at their leisure as they do on their home farm.

This project has been in the planning stage for the past year and is expected to be one of the highlights at this year’s Ploughing.

The face of dairy farming in the 21st century is being changed by Lely who sees the future in automating dairy farms in an animal friendly way. Cows are more relaxed as they are allowed to express their natural behaviour and have the freedom of choice to be milked at any time of the day or night.

Lely’s, Tomás Cooney commented ‘The cows are milked more frequently than in a traditional system which reflects what happens in nature where a calf suckles the cow many times a day. The Lely Astronaut A4 recognises each cow individually’. Every event from birth until the day the cow leaves the farm is stored on the T4C (time for cows) management program which is then presented clearly to the farmer on a dashboard. It enables him to supply an individual cow with all her needs for optimal health, milk production and well-being.

Speaking at the launch on the farm of Anne & Aidan Power, Anna May McHugh said ‘We always encourage companies to present new ideas at the Ploughing. We were completely fascinated at the live milking idea as proposed by Lely. After visiting a Lely farm we were truly amazed at the technology and at how quiet and content the cows were.

The NPA are pleased to give the project the green light as the Lely astronaut robotic milking system really proves again that agriculture is a specialised industry where technology plays a key role. With the removal of milk quotas in 2015 we felt this project would be an ideal opportunity for Irish farmers to see what technology can do for their business in the future.’

Anna May went on to comment “I’ve come across ploughmen checking that a ploughing venue had broadband so that they could check on their cows while away at the ploughing match.

“I’m really delighted that we can give the ploughing public an opportunity to see the whole process in action in September – it’s something that will interest everyone”.

Lely introduced their first robotic milking machine in 1992 and 21 years later have over 16,000 machines working worldwide, milking over a million cows every day. With the long and demanding hours that milking requires the Lely Astronaut A4 robotic milking system frees up invaluable time for dairy farmers allowing them concentrate on other farm duties.
The farmer can also access information on the herd on his mobile device and manage his cows from anywhere in the world.

Lely will be doing a presentation on the T4C management program on the hour from 10am until 4pm on each day of the Ploughing.

As site works for this year’s National Ploughing step up a gear Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles are proud to continue a long standing arrangement for the third year to become the 2013 National Ploughing Championships Official Motoring Sponsor.

This year Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will support the NPA by providing it with the agile Volkswagen Caddy 4Motion and the tough Volkswagen Amarok award winning pick-up.

Niall Phillips, Head of Sales & Marketing, confirmed the arrangement and commented at his “continued belief in the association between the two organisations and that he was delighted the NPA had chosen Volkswagen’s excellent products and reliable back-up to ensure another smooth-running event in 2013”.

Anna May McHugh stated ‘The Volkswagen Amarok  will prove to be a huge addition for the off road preparations and site works that will take place on upwards of 700 acres,  and during the event week the vehicles will provide a vital link between exhibition, competitions, demonstrations and car parks.

The exhibition arena for the Championships is starting to take shape this week with many of the event services on site laying piping, tracks, wiring and fencing.  Marquee and shed erectors will start their build next week, closely followed by exhibitors.
Celebrating the 82nd year of the National Ploughing Association, this year’s programme is packed with exciting activities and events throughout the three days in Ratheniska.  Over 1300 exhibitors have booked their spot at the event showcasing cattle, sheep, and a huge range of goods from tractors and agricultural machinery to cars, fashion, forestry, innovations, house and home, health, lifestyle, leisure and plenty of retail therapy and food stalls.

Starting on Tuesday 24th September and running through to Thursday 26th, the National Ploughing Association are expecting a bumper attendance of over 180,000 visitors. Admission for Adults is €20 with Students/OAP’s at €15 and children go free.