THE days of complimentary drinks on every stand at an agricultural machinery show are long gone.

In years past you would be disappointed if every other farmer was not reeling slightly and wearing a vacuous grin as they tottered from stand to stand.

Counter balanced by bags of goodies and handouts, the best bet for a safe journey home for most of them was either a taxi, ringing the wife for a pick up, or finding a comfortable corner in a tent for the night.

No longer. The strongest drink now is probably a black coffee. Refreshments are limited. Although I did notice an edible logo for the cakes offered by an auctioneer. Cakes? How gentile is that. But we did hit it lucky.

The company that milled our cattle feed was there and they were dishing up portions of the most delicious and warming beef stew.

Tellingly, few pieces of kit on display had prices on. An enormous self-propelled potato harvester probably could not find a sign with enough noughts on the end to inform any potential buyers.

They would need a pint of smelling salts as well to revive them once they found out the actual cost.

Huge Claas and New Holland combines, had their guards lifted up so the drive mechanism was on display for all to marvel at it’s complexity. Plus more smelling salts if anyone was brave enough to enquire about the price.

A huge amount of effort and optimism goes into putting on a show like this. In the uncertain economic climate the price of the machinery on offer, bears no relation to the price of produce coming off the farm.

Recently, we sold two tractors and were thrilled at the money they fetched, but it was peanuts compared to the prices of some of the tackle on offer. Plus, the new tackle is now so complicated, you virtually need a degree in electronics or computer science to operate them.

How quickly things have moved on. When John started farming there were not even cabs on tractors and a 65 horse power tractor was a huge machine.

Four wheel drive tractors did not exist and the tackle he was driving then would probably be classed as vintage nowadays. At this show, 350 horsepower tractors were commonplace.

But a huge draw is the social climate of a show. We could hardly walk a few yards between machinery stands without meeting a friend, dealer, neighbour, contractor or salesman that we knew.

“Do you actually make any sales today?” I asked on one stand. “You would be surprised," he answered. “It whets farmer’s appetites and the younger generation of farmers who have grown up with computers and satellite technology have the confidence to persuade their parents to invest in new machinery.”

The friends we spoke to however who had their sons with them would need more than confidence and optimism to persuade dad to loosen his grip on the cheque book and run up a massive overdraft. A skinfull of those historic complimentary drinks might do the job though.