Judging has kicked off this morning (Wednesday, August 19) at the 83rd edition of the Virginia Agricultural Show in Co. Cavan.

There are over 400 classes to be judged on the day and "a massive increase in the livestock entries this year," according to Virginia Show Society vice president Ronan O'Reilly.

In the cattle section, there are over 50 classes to be judged across dairy, pedigree beef and and commercial cattle breeds.

As the judges make their way through the classes, anticipation will be growing in the beef and dairy sections for some of the main classes which will bring the day's proceedings to a close.

In the beef section, the key events include the Virginia Show Champions which will be selected in the commercial and interbreed sections before the Univet Ireland and Virginia Show Commercial Heifer Champion is announced.

Then it will be on to the Carnaross Mart All Ireland Male and Female Weanling Heifer Champions, a class which always proves popular with spectators and exhibitors in the beef breed classes.

The final class of the day in the beef showrings will be the annual €2,000 Liffey Meats Champion Super Beef Bullock.

In the dairy section, the annual Baileys Champion Dairy Cow competition returns with a €13,000 prize fund. It will be judged later this afternoon.

Competitor cows have been acclimatising to the showgrounds since Sunday evening (August 16), and competition for this year's event is expected to be extremely high as always.

In the sheep section, there are over 50 classes to be judged and five goat classes as well.

The exhibitor of Champion Pedigree Sheep will be presented with the Patrick Keoghan Cup.

The Hugh Faulkner Cup will be presented to the Champion Crossbred Sheep of the show and this will be presented by the Faulkner family in memory of the late Hugh Faulkner.

Stay tuned to Agriland for updates on results and winners from the livestock showrings at the 83rd Virginia Agricultural Show.