Balmoral Show 2025: Sunny outlook, both for show and farm industry
Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) president John Henning makes no secret of the fact that the livestock competition classes will always be his go-to events when it comes to Balmoral Show.
The noted Aberdeen-Angus breeder confirmed that 3,000 animals have been scheduled to participate in the various livestock events over the four days of Balmoral 2025.
He added: “We have competitions scheduled across the four days of the event, from horses and ponies through to cattle, sheep and pigs.
“Balmoral Show is a tremendous shop window for farming and food in Northern Ireland. What’s more the general public are offered a tremendous opportunity to view the different animal breeds from a uniquely advantageous perspective.”
A registered charity, the RUAS has always committed to delivering high quality educational opportunities for farmers while also affording consumers the chance to learn more about the way in which food is actually produced.
Mr Henning has come up with a unique term for this: ‘edutainment’.
“We totally commit to making education fun,” he added. “And the visitor surveys that we carry out confirm that the society is continuing to deliver for the general public in a more than meaningful way.”
But, of course, it’s the weather that makes Balmoral Show.
He said: “We are looking at the prospect of four days’ wall-to-wall sunshine.
“Some welcome rain fell in the Lisburn area on Monday evening of this week. And this has succeeded in freshening up the show grounds. All is set fair for Balmoral Show 2025.”
Ulster Bank is the main sponsor of the show. This year’s event builds on a long standing relationship between the financial institution and the RUAS.
The bank’s head of agriculture, Cormac McKervey, confirmed that farmers coming to this week’s show are in tremendous spirits.
He pointed to an industry that, from an overall perspective, is on a strengthening economic trajectory.
This is best reflected in the fact that the ratio of actual monies in bank accounts relative to borrowings within agriculture has steadily increased over the past number of years.
Mr McKervey said: “From a price and income perspective farming in Northern Ireland is in a good place. Through the second half of last year dairy farmers saw good farm gate returns. And these were maintained over the winter.”
Turning to beef and lamb, he pointed to an envisaged continuation of the strong prices that characterise international red meat markets at the moment.
He said: “None of us would have predicted the increase in beef prices that have been witnessed over recent times. The price of a finished animal has increased by around £550 per head since the beginning of the year.
“These are exceptional prices. And it is only right: given the quality of the protein that beef represents, it has been commercially undervalued for far too long.
“Yes, there are some fears that supply-demand factor may kick in to ease the beef market somewhat.
“However, if we arrive at a new norm where the prices paid to livestock farmers more realistically reflect the quality of the food they produce, this will be an inherently good thing.”