Farmers' inheritance tax protest: seven tractor rallies take place across Northern Ireland - watch video footage as 120 tractors form huge cavalcade at one of the rallies

Seven rallies took place - one in every county and two in Co Down - and each of them got under way at 2pm.

The video attached to this article shows one of the Co Down rallies as it passed Dromore.

The rally had started at the Maze site, coming down the A1 dual carriageway, before finishing at the Boulevard shopping outlet outside Banbridge.

As each vehicle passed the News Letter camera, the farmers gave a friendly wave and a beep of their horns.

The News Letter counted around 120 tractors and two lorries as part of the cavalcade.

The rallies were organised by the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU).

Scroll down for more on this story. And see also: Thousands attend farmers' rally against new inheritance tax at Eikon Centre as crowd told 'we are on the brink of losing it all'

Speaking to the PA news agency today at the Maze site, UFU chief executive Wesley Aston said they were stepping up their action after a protest event at the same place in November.

He said the new rules the Government is proposing on inheritance tax will mean huge bills for the next generation of farmers, which will risk the viability of family farms in the future.

“This is another step to highlight the concern we have and let the general public know how impactful this will be, not only to farmers but food security going forward,” he said.

“We are doing our bit in Northern Ireland but this is part of a UK-wide activity and plan of action so that the Government will actually start engaging with us as farmers to look at this issue.”

See also: Seven farmers - young and old - give their views on how the new Labour inheritance tax will hit them

He said they want to send a strong message to the Government that this is a huge issue for the farming community, their level of concern, and urging to listen to them.

He said future action will be taken if deemed necessary.

Here are the routes of today’s seven rallies:

The Armagh route ran between Armagh, Markethill and Ballyleny (Richhill).

The Saintfield route ran from the Maze site, to Hillsborough, Carryduff and Saintfield area.

The Banbridge route ran from the Maze site to Hillsborough and Dromore to Banbridge.

The Londonderry route ran from Lisahally Market and circled the city via Kilfennan, Dungiven, the City Centre, Ulster University, and over the bridge to the Waterfoot Hotel and back to the starting point.

The Ballymena route started at the town's livestock Mark and onto Woodside Road and the Broughshane Road. It circled the north side of the town out to Ahoghill and then circled the south side of the town back to the mart.

The Fermangh route started at Enniskillen Mart, before proceeding into the town, which it encircled before returning back to the mart.

The Tyrone rally started at Omagh Mart on the Gillygooley Road and proceeds to the Omagh Hospital complex, the Swinging Bars Roundabout, Crevenagh Road and back to the mart.