The sunny weather brought out record crowds as the National Ploughing Championships got underway in Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny.
Some 70,000 people were estimated to have attended the event this afternoon.
However severe traffic disruption was experienced by people attending Championships, which got under way at midday.
Long tailbacks were reported and motorists travelling from distances as short as 20km away say it took them more than three hours to arrive at the venue.
A garda traffic plan has been put in place for the event.
The garda helicopter is involved in the plan, which will operate in the Kilkenny area until Thursday night.
About 160,000 people are expected to visit the site at Burnchurch over the next three days.
The dry weather over the past few weeks has been a major boost to tillage farmers as they struggled to finish the harvest.
The harvest was delayed because of the prolonged summer rainfall, and about 20% of the crops nationally have still to be gathered.
The improvement in the weather has also been welcomed by the organisers of the championships because many other big agricultural shows were forced to cancel due to muddy conditions.
Metal tracking has been laid on the ground around the 900 trade stands to make conditions easier for spectators.
