There was no getting away from the feminisation of agriculture yesterday at the National Ploughing Championships in Carlow which were officially closed by the President, Mrs McAleese, and enlivened by the new Minister for Agriculture and Food, Ms Mary Coughlan.
As Ireland's President Mary was leaving the giant 500-acre ploughing site yesterday afternoon, Minister Mary was coming in another gate to try her hand at a bit of ploughing and to get a grip on the reins of her new job.
But the Donegal woman was game to show she could throw herself in at the deep end yesterday and, within minutes of arriving on the site, she introduced two more females to the Irish media, Dolly and Molly.
Dolly and Molly were a matched ploughing pair of Irish Draught mares behind which the new Minister drove a fairly straight furrow up a wet field. Such endeavours should stand to her in her new job.
As that other great female stalwart of the championships, Carrie Atcheson, who makes all the public address announcements, whipped up a welcome for the two visitors, Mrs Anna May McHugh, who runs the event, was playing host to all and sundry.
The only man who could get a look in yesterday was the Irish Farmers' Association President, John Dillon, who was making his first major outing since he was badly injured in an accident on his farm six weeks ago.
He stunned the agri press corps by giving us a glimpse of the injured leg which is pinned in a steel cage and which he swore will necessitate him carrying "a wrench around with him to make adjustments" as it gets better.
The quick-witted farm leader, who has been out of the public eye for some time, said he wanted the agri press to see he had suffered no brain damage in the accident, and that he and the wrench will be back in full action soon to bat for Irish farmers.
That other great feminine icon of Irish farming, Avril Doyle MEP, gatecrashed the Minister's first press conference with the agricultural hacks, and outside the tent stood former agricultural journalist and now MEP, Mairead McGuinness, looking in.
Yes, it was a ploughing championships like no other, and it certainly did mark a watershed in Irish agriculture.