THERE’S NO business like show business and the 69th Virginia Show in Cavan on Saturday did not disappoint.
Organisers of this farming calendar staple welcomed about 10,000 visitors to the shores of Lough Ramor to see 3,000 entries in competitions of the human, animal and vegetable variety.
As judging in the early livestock competitions opened, the cattle rings became an open-air salon with anxious livestock owners primping and preening their charges for one of the country’s biggest bovine beauty pageants.
A wave of heat, scented with talc and hairspray, wafted as breeders clipped and blow-dried their show hopefuls to perfection.
For Eleanor Reilly (11) from Ballyjamesduff, a competitor in the Novice Young Stockperson category, preparation with Eamon, her young pedigree Limousin bull began three weeks ago. Is it hard work? “Well, you have to feed him hay and silage and milk, and practise his walk up and down the road.”
After a thorough inspection of Eleanor’s knowledge and Eamon’s physical credentials, they took the first prize red rosette. “I’ll come back next year. Maybe I’ll bring Eamon.”
For the show’s secretary, Catherine Murtagh, the event is more important now than ever. “It brings the consumer and the farmer together, it helps people to remember that our food doesn’t come from supermarkets, it comes from farmers.”
Ms Murtagh heads up the army of 200 white-coated volunteers, on hand to deal with everything from parking to lost children.
Meanwhile, celebrating 100 years of the Irish Country Women’s Association, the skills of the year competition was a dizzying array of everything from prize cabbages to perfectly formed sods of turf.
Virginia native Margaret Farrelly (68), who took first prize for her high-fibre bread, was remaining tight-lipped about the recipe: “There’s no recipe really, it’s just and handful of this and that.” The baking supremo who works in St Joseph’s nursing home in the town bakes her bread for the residents daily. Her daughter Gloria confided, “mam won’t even tell me the recipe.”
Local Fine Gael councillor Paddy O’Reilly, who was doubling as a car park attendant for the day, said “employment is the big issue for Cavan”. He also cited the cut in funding for the roads as a problem. “Travelling from O’Connell Bridge in Dublin, Virginia is the first town you meet. We welcome all visitors, but with the Virginia bypass now on hold, we don’t want it to be known as a bottleneck.”
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith was in ebullient humour. Asked about the future of CAP , he said: “I’m using every opportunity to emphasise the need for a well-resourced CAP. Farm incomes rely heavily on the Single Farm Payment and also on rural development payments. This income support is critical.”
The high point of the day was the Bailey’s Irish Champion Cow Competition. Co-sponsored by Glanbia, the prize fund of €8,000 is one of the richest in the land. Six-time winner Cyril Dowling from Baldonnell, Dublin, seemed to know what the judges want – “the correct mammary system is important. Good legs too. And good stomach capacity. ” But it’s not all about looks: “All things being equal, a cow with style might edge it, but really it’s all about the milk.”
But while the Kingdom missed out in the football, brothers John and Tim Kirby from Duagh, Co Kerry, took gold with their eight-year-old Smearlaview A Storm Vixan. “We washed her twice a day for the past three days, and we’ve been dolling her up with the clippers, a comb and the hairdryer,” said John. “She knows she’s a winner. When she’s in the ring her ears go up and she chews the cud. It’s no bother to her. She loves the day out.”
