WITH MORE than 400 tents, stalls and marquees on site this week, visitors to the ploughing championships were spoilt for choice when it came to the eclectic selection of products on offer.
It is likely to be the only place in Ireland where somebody who needed the latest tractor tyres, a “vibration exercise machine” and some magnetic jewellery with “healing powers”, could go and get it all in one trip.
Large balloons, colourful displays, booming microphones and upfront demonstrations were employed in an attempt to entice customers into stalls.
In a rather successful attempt to stand out, the e-mobile tent offered to “wash your wellies” if you called in, a service that became increasingly popular as bursts of rain brought with it muddy conditions underfoot.
The championships are an occasion for designers to unveil their latest farming inventions and there was no shortage of ingenuity on display.
Michael Kelly from Carlow was advertising his “Foaling Alarm and Automatic Phone Dialler”. The transmitter device is attached to a pregnant mare’s vulva, it detects when the birthing process begins and calls the farmers’ phones until they answer.
Mr Kelly, owner of MK Alarms Ltd, which sells the product, said his device was an improvement on a similar design he saw in the United States that he adapted for use on Irish stud farms.
Elsewhere, Dan McLoughlin from Glenville, Co Cork, was showcasing the benefits of Gramenor’s new machine that measures when a farmer needs to reseed pasture.
He hoped that it would become an essential “string in the bow” of those who provided farm services, as it would conclusively show individual farmers whether the costly procedure of reseeding fields was necessary or not.
“We are getting a lot of interest from farmers. The plan is within 10 years nobody will sell rye grass without having one of these because the farmers won’t believe them [that they need to do so],” Mr McLoughlin said.
Not all the stalls had such a forward-thinking mind set, however. John Keenan from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, was busy frying rashers on an old primus stove at the Irish Vintage Society’s stall. There he had a collection of domestic and agricultural machines used in Ireland before the availability of electricity.
“There is a big interest,” he said. “People want to know what the different things do and we have had some older people who remember using them and they look at them all for a long time.”
The products were not the only attraction, as several sports stars could be found dotted around the site. Lar Corbett, the Tipperary forward and 2010 hurler of the year, was on hand selling his own brand of hurleys and a large net structure called the “Mega Hurling Rebounder”, against which hurlers can strike sliotars when training alone.
“It’s something like hitting a ball off the wall, but it comes back at a faster speed,” explained Corbett.
Unfortunately for Corbett, he did not have the hurley market to himself as TJ Reid, who lined out on the Kilkenny team that defeated Tipperary in this year’s All-Ireland final, was also selling his brand of hurley.
“I haven’t left this spot yet so far, so I don’t know what’s going on down there at all, but hopefully I will sell more than him anyway,” laughed Reid, when asked if his rivalry with the Premier County extended to hurley sales.
Other sports stars at the championships were former soccer player Paul McGrath, who was promoting his budding music career with a new single, Goin’ Back, and Leinster rugby players who accompanied the Heineken Cup to the tent of their sponsor, Bank of Ireland.