22 fabulous photos from potentially record-breaking Staffordshire County Show

Cattle, sheep and horses were all on show as competitions took place throughout the day.

And there was plenty of other attractions, such as JCB’s Dancing Diggers, with thousands of people turning out to see the big yellow machines prance and dance around the horse field in a spectacular display.

Express & Star reporter Daniel Walton and photographer Tim Sturgess visited the show to see first-hand, just what goes into making one of the biggest yearly farming events of the year.

On arrival at the showground, what I was first amazed at was the sheer number of people in attendance – despite getting there early, the car park was full of farm fanatics young and old who had all come out to see the animals.

Over 200 stalls adorned the grounds of the Staffordshire County Showground, featuring stalls ranging from independent retailers of clothing and food, heavy machinery sales, farm products and what is said to be this year's 'most important' feature, information.

With the impending general election, and nationwide low profits for farmers, this year's show placed a special importance on getting people talking about farming, inviting visitors young and old to talk about the past and future of agriculture.

Rachel Hallo, national vice president for the National Farmers Union (NFU), said: "This is my first county show of the season and it's a really nice event for people to just get away, this is all about catching up with people you may not have seen over the last 12 months.

"It's hugely important to talk about agriculture, especially what is going on at the moment. There's a lot of countryside in Britain, it's important that people know what is going on in it."

Heading into the competition area, I felt my national pride peaking as I saw the Welsh were leading the charge in the speed sheep sheering event, revelling at the sheer speed of the farmer's ability to take the woolly coats of the animals.

One event that really stood out was the best in milk competition, which saw out-of-towner and first-time participant, Natalie Herridge and her lovely cow Maggie, who took home first class in the Junior two-year-old in milk category.

However, by far the most popular event this year was the JCB Dancing Diggers, who returned to the showground for the first time since 2018.

Stacey Williams, 38, mother-of-two, of Staffordshire, said: "It's been a great day so far. The JCBs are one of the biggest reasons we came this year actually.

"The kids love seeing them, they've never seen them before, but seeing these big diggers doing this dance, it's right up their street."

The event this year may turn out to be the biggest and best yet, with Richard Williams, chief executive for the Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural Society, saying that trading stalls may see a record year.

Mr Williams said: "I don't want to say too much yet as we don't have the final figure, but it looks to me that the numbers that are attending this year are on par if not better than the previous years.

"What's nice is that trade stands are particularly up and they were a record last year, so we are looking at doing much better this year."

Mr Williams also went on to say that a prime focus of this year's event is reaching out to potential young farmers, using the event to spread the word about farming and agriculture work.

He added: "The other brilliant thing is that we are doing our very best as a society to encourage the next generation of farmers.

"For this year's show we are really encouraging young farmers, we are putting things on for these young farmers like the tug-of-war and the floats and the young farmer's competition.

"It's really important that we start to bring in these young farmers and our chief cattle steward is really switched on with this, we are holding cattle farming master classes and a number of things. We need to bring in these new farmers."

So despite the rain, which I expect made competing farmers feel right at home, visitors seemed to have an amazing time at the event, revelling in everything agriculture and showing a genuine interest in the past and the future of farming.

Heading to the exits, it was amazing to see people experiencing things which they might not otherwise have the opportunity to, whether that be show-jumping, sheep sheering, goat horn measuring, or just enjoying farm life. This is exactly what this event was created for 225 years ago.

The two day event will also take place on Thursday, with more agriculture fun set to take place throughout the day.