THE VIRGINIA show in Co Cavan, featuring the Baileys champion cow competition, takes place today.
The show, which has taken place for the past 67 years, has not fallen victim to the weather, like many shows this year.
The Baileys event, which is confined to cows that produce over 11,000 litres of milk per annum, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The 18 previous winning owners have been invited to attend.
The milk to make the Irish cream liqueur was originally produced locally in Virginia and when the competition began in 1984, 67 million litres of milk were required for the operation.
Today, 40,000 cows from 1,500 farms supply the requirements for Baileys, which now uses 275 million litres of milk per annum.
One of the welcome developments this year is the return of cattle entries from Northern Ireland, which were banned following the BSE scare in 1996.
The show will feature more than 400 classes covering all aspects of agriculture and there will be a total prize fund this year of €50,000.
Mairéad McGuinness MEP has been invited as a special guest to the show.
Elsewhere, the organisers of Ireland's largest agricultural show in Tullamore, which has had to be cancelled for the past two years because of bad weather, said they will try and stage the event again next year.
Following a meeting of the show's executive committee, it was decided to hold a full review of the situation, including a financial review, because the cancellation of the event two years running has created major debts.
"The show cannot be cancelled under any circumstances next year and we need to be in a position that the show will be weather independent. This analysis could take two months to complete and hopefully then we will be in a position to outline the future of the show," said committee chairman, Tom Maher.
All aspects of staging the event, including the location and the date, will be considered. The one-day event usually attracts crowds of up to 50,000 people.
The Irish Shows Association said the number of cancellations this year has been higher than ever. Shows are scheduled this week for Moate, Enniscrone, Limerick, Dundalk, Ballingeary and Claregalway.