22 fabulous photos from potentially record-breaking Staffordshire County Show
This year’s Staffordshire County Show could be the biggest and best yet as organisers hailed the successful opening of the popular farming extravaganza.
The two-day agricultural show at the county showground in Stafford opened yesterday and was continuing today.
Cattle, sheep and horses were all on show as competitions took place throughout the day.
And there was plenty of other attractions, such as JCB’s Dancing Diggers, with thousands of people turning out to see the big yellow machines prance and dance around the horse field in a spectacular display.
Express & Star reporter Daniel Walton and photographer Tim Sturgess visited the show to see first-hand, just what goes into making one of the biggest yearly farming events of the year.
On arrival at the showground, what I was first amazed at was the sheer number of people in attendance – despite getting there early, the car park was full of farm fanatics young and old who had all come out to see the animals.
Over 200 stalls adorned the grounds of the Staffordshire County Showground, featuring stalls ranging from independent retailers of clothing and food, heavy machinery sales, farm products and what is said to be this year's 'most important' feature, information.
With the impending general election, and nationwide low profits for farmers, this year's show placed a special importance on getting people talking about farming, inviting visitors young and old to talk about the past and future of agriculture.
Rachel Hallo, national vice president for the National Farmers Union (NFU), said: "This is my first county show of the season and it's a really nice event for people to just get away, this is all about catching up with people you may not have seen over the last 12 months.
