La Rural

cattle with big horns

On Sunday we went along to the Rural, which is a huge agricultural fair that has been held in BsAs annually since 1880. It is a major event here and although we have no real interest in all things farming, we thought we would take a look.

this was just one of the halls

As we got close to the entrance, we came across a huge queue of around 400+ people. To start with we thought it was the queue to get into to rural and we weren't keen, but in fact it was the queue for the previously mentioned (quite small) zoo. It may be that the zoo is always this popular, but I wonder if perhaps mums and their kids had just got bored while dads spent days looking at livestock and tractors.

happy humpy cattle

The event is held in a specially built location with a number of large halls and outside areas. The first area that we went into was a hall full of sheep and cattle. There were loads of them and they were so big! We had a look around the different breeds and to see which ones had won the prizes. Some of them seemed to have lots of rosettes, so presumably had won in a variety of categories. I guess that means they were safe from the dinner table! In fact I got the impression that the animals here were not generally for eating but for breeding. Some were for sale, but others had just been brought along to show off their animal and hopefully win a prize.

an asado - next to the cattle

What did seem slightly odd was having a fancy restaurant with a full size asado, a fire pit used to barbeque large cuts of meat, in the same hall as the live cattle.

a smiling pig

We gradually made our way around the pigs, horses and birds too.  We had expected to see the (very noisy) roosters, the chickens, turkeys and ducks but we hadn't expected to see peacocks too.  I know that peacocks were popular feasting food amongst the English gentry a few hundred years ago, so I wonder whether people do still eat them here. We haven't seen any sign of it on menus here so far, so maybe they are just bred to look pretty.

flambeed cheese on sticks

Duff beer

As well as the animals, they had indoor stalls selling all manner of craftwork, riding accessories and some very lethal looking knives.  We also spotted someone selling cheese on a stick which they were 'toasting' with a blowtorch

We also spotted the stall selling Homer Simpson's favourite Duff beer.

cheeses and sausages

Outside they were displaying huge pieces of farm equipment and 4x4 vehicles.  They were showing off the latter by taking visitors around a track with obstacles like a very steep wooden 'hill' and a see-saw.  I couldn't persuade Nic to queue up for that so we went and watched some showjumping instead.

aberdeen angus

Overall I can't say that this was the most fun we've had here, but it was interesting, partly to see the many different breeds of animals, and partly to see how much this event is a real family day out for everyone.  And as for the animals - my personal favourite had to be the Aberdeen Angus cattle.  They are quite pretty creatures and have really beautiful soft black furry hair and ......vegetarians or anyone with a particular fondness for cows may wish to stop reading now ....................  when they do end up on the table they taste great!