Queen Elizabeth today cast an expert eye over champion livestock at the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show today, as she continued her Jubilee Tour of Northern Ireland.
But it was horses that interested her most and she could not resist patting a two-month-old foal, called Ed, on the muzzle.
"The Queen was really interested in the foal, so she was," said Mr Katherine Montgomery (18) whose father Philip bred the prize-winning horse. "She also asked about the mare and what she had won," said Ms Montgomery, from Augher, County Tyrone.
The Queen, accompanied by Prince Philip, spent an hour touring the show and visited the cattle ring.
Dressed in a lilac outfit, the royal visitor held on to her hat in the gusty weather.
Household items from the 1950s, exhibited in a special Golden Jubilee display at the show, also caught the Queen's eye. "She liked the music from the 50s playing on the radio, and the pots and pans," said Dr George Chambers, an exhibition organiser.
The Queen studied a comparison of farming statistics.
In 1952, when she ascended the throne, 122,278 hectares of oats were planted compared with just 2,443 in 2001.
Northern Ireland's potato farming has also declined. In 1952, 55,324 hectares were planted compared with 6,663 in 2001. The average yield per hectare has, however, increased from 19.8 tons to 39.6. The price per ton has gone up from £11.62 to £91.50.
Livestock numbers were also shown to the Queen. In 1952, there were 795,088 sheep in Northern Ireland compared with 2,525,600 in 2001. The number of dairy cows has increased from 200,000 to 295,000.
The total agricultural workforce in Ulster has dropped during the Queen's 50-year reign from 144,944 to 56,362.
PA