The Carter family from Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co Laois, are bracing themselves for a return of the Ploughing to their farm next week. This year, they are well prepared; they now know what to expect when the thousands of visitors descend on their farm, which is the centre point of the giant Ploughing trade exhibition.

The trade area on their farm is now 20% bigger than in 2013.

The buildup has been gradual, with much of the work starting in early August. It’s an event scale that the Carters have come to appreciate as they see it unfold.

The family’s 125-acre tillage farm has been transformed over the last two years.

In 2012, the National Ploughing Association took over the running of the farm and, under the stewardship of site manager Tom Kelly, converted it to a grass farm to provide the focal area for what is now Europe’s biggest outdoor farming event.

Prior to that, David and Shirley Carter and their two sons, Clive and Howard, have been growing continuous cereal crops, mainly barley, on the farm. They are now looking at their cropping options post-Ploughing and have thought through the options for when the site is cleared of the gigantic trade event.

“We plan to go back into winter and spring cereals as soon as the site is cleared,” says Clive Carter. “That will be some weeks after the event is over, so much will depend on the weather after the Ploughing. The ground conditions will then dictate just how much ploughing we get through in order to sow as much winter wheat into the ground as possible,” he says.

“After that, we will continue with ploughing the remainder of the farm and we plan to sow the rest in spring feed and malting barley,” he says. The aim will be to have the farm back as a tillage-only farm by early 2015.

The Carter brothers and their father do most of the machinery work on their tillage farm and are well equipped in terms of machinery.

Apart from sowing, the Carters do all of the other machinery work, including combine harvesting.

Will they be tempted by the shiny machinery on show? Probably not, says Clive, as they are well-equipped for the scale of their operation and will review their plans when the huge Ploughing event has moved on.

Clive and Howard Carter are part of the Ploughing buildup team and take an active part by being on call by Tom Kelly, if and when needed. Their JCB teleporter has been in action for some weeks and they will be working with the rest of the crew until the event opens on Tuesday morning, 23 September.

Like most tillage farmers, the Carters are aware of the effects of the new greening rules on their farming system.

“I’ve been measuring hedges this week to calculate our level of greening. It is early days yet and we will just have to keep abreast of the regulations and how they affect us,” says Clive.