The Northern Ireland Ploughing Association’s annual ploughing championships took place on Friday and Saturday at Aghanloo Industrial Estate near Limavady, Co Derry.

Wet weather meant that the 73rd championships had to be rescheduled and move a few miles from the Edenmore area to the Aghanloo site which has free draining soils and a tarmac entrance. Over the two days ground conditions were ideal for competitors and the weather stayed dry for visitors to the event.

Across the various ploughing classes, overall winners move on to represent Northern Ireland at World and European contests. Classes include conventional, reversible, vintage and horse ploughing. There were also novice and senior fencing competitions for member of the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster, tractor pulling and trade stands at the event.

Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Michelle McIlveen attended the event on Saturday. “It is quite a sight to see exponents of this difficult art at work and the crowd clearly enjoyed the high degree of skill on show,” she said.

Results from across the classes in the ploughing competition will follow on www.farmersjournal.ie

Read more

Business picking up at Ploughing

Ploughing heading back to Tullamore