The Great Yorkshire Show 2025 highlights: The events you can't miss at this year's show

The very best livestock around are at the heart of the Great Yorkshire Show where more than 8,500 animals are presented to vie for prestigious rosettes.

The competitive action in the rings leads to perhaps the Show’s most iconic moments, the Grand Cattle Parades on Thursday and Friday when all the breed champions are proudly presented by their handlers at 2pm.

This year, the Show hosts five national breed shows attracting exhibitors for Aberdeen Angus, Longhorn and Charolais cattle and Zwartbles and Kerry Hills in the sheep section.

Another addition is the Northern Region Shepherd of the Future competition.

Food & Drink

Yorkshire’s brilliant and diverse food and drink producers converge on the Great Yorkshire Show, with the Food Hall a showcase of amazing produce, including the jam-packed Cheese & Dairy section and Thursday afternoon’s ever-popular Cheese Auction.

There’s also a craft beer bar in conjunction with SIBA and Harrogate Brewing and the Great Yorkshire Food Theatre where top chefs showcase their culinary skills, including Prashad’s Minal Patel, The Box Tree’s Brayden Davies and Aagrah Foods’ Shezad Aslam.The Food Hall also hosts the Battle of the Butchers competition.

Equine

The top-class equine section of the Show features thousands of horses, ponies and donkeys of around 40 different breeds, with two new sections added this year. For the first time, there will be classes for Suffolk Punch horses.

These handsome and heavy draught horses from the county in its name are always chesnut – the traditional Suffolk spelling - in colour and are classified as a critically endangered breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

Also new for this year are Miniature Horses, bred to resemble quality riding horses but standing only 87cm high. Both these new classes take place in the Ridings Ring on Friday.

Live Machinery Demos

A huge array of farm machinery is displayed at the Great Yorkshire Show and the machinery lines are also a draw for farmers. This year, the Show is going one step further with the introduction of a new Machinery Demonstration Ring near Brown Gate.

Here, you can see cutting-edge machines in action, accompanied by an informative commentary to explain how they work, every day at 10am,11am, 12pm, 2pm and 3pm.

The Ring will showcase compact tractors suitable for smallholdings, state-of-the-art auto steer tractors and a 360hp combine harvester with a 22ft header, among other marvellous machines.

Fashion Show

Prestigious fashion brands, professional models and some famous faces will take to the catwalk at the Ariat GYS Stage in between the celebrity chat shows. Hosted by TV presenter Christine Talbot, the fashion shows will take place at 1pm every day showcasing fabulous countrywear available from trade stands around the Showground.

Brands on the catwalk include ranges from Ariat, Manteaux, Maude & Fox, Lakeland Leather, McNair Shirts, British Wool and TOG24. Abraham Moons is also showcasing its range of large and small ruanas in Yorkshire Agricultural Society Tweed.

Inspiration for farmers

There are lots of opportunities specifically for farmers attending the Great Yorkshire Show.

The Innovation Zone, organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Farmer Scientist Network, demonstrates the latest research and technology and its transformative impact on farming.

It is a one-stop shop for farmers who are chasing percentage gains to drive forward efficiency, productivity and diversify income streams with a line up of experts to offer guidance and spark ideas, featuring daily talks on topics from precision agriculture to soil health.

Celebrity Chat Shows

A cast of household names with close connections to farming and the great outdoors will be appearing at the Show.

Special guests will be appearing at the Ariat GYS Stage at 11am and 3pm on each day when TV presenter Christine Talbot hosts chats shows with TV presenter Helen Skelton on Tuesday, Rob and Dave Nicholson of Cannon Hall Farm (which hosts Channel 5’s Springtime on the Farm series) on Wednesday, TV presenter Matt Baker MBE on Thursday and Peter Wright of Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet on Friday.

Each guest will be taking part in a Meet & Greet with Show visitors.

Health and Wellbeing

Being fit to farm will be in the spotlight at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show to highlight the importance of both physical and mental wellbeing.

Brand new for this year’s Show, the Britain’s Fittest Farmer competition will be held on the Young Farmers Lawn throughout Tuesday. This is one of three national qualifying rounds of the UK-wide competition, which is organised and run by Farmers Weekly.

The spectacle will see farmers compete in a series of gruelling physical challenges including pulling a truck, a wheelbarrow run, seed bag drag, sandbag squats, tyre flips and beer keg lifts.

Exhibitions and displays

New to the Show this year is a new sheep exhibition ‘Wensleydale Sheep: A Handcrafted History’, hosted by the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Breeders’ Association, which tells the story of a breed that took its name at the Great Yorkshire Show nearly 150 years ago.

The exhibition is a collection of the work of 40 textile artists from across the UK using native, rare breed Wensleydale sheep wool.

There is so much to discover across the Showground, from horseshoeing at The Forge, a Countryside Area packed with demonstrations from fly casting to gundogs, sheepdog trials and Hives and Honey.

YouTube channel and App

The Great Yorkshire Show has developed its digital channels for this year’s Show and a great new way to enjoy the less well-known scenes of GYS, on each evening after the Show, is the GYS YouTube channel.

Episodes of Great Yorkshire Show: Behind the Scenes will focus on the exhibitors, competitors, award winners, staff and volunteers who help make the Show possible, championing the talented individuals who make the event what it is today.

The YouTube series sees TV presenters Christine Talbot, Jon Mitchell and Duncan Wood joined by farming YouTuber and TikTok star Joe Seels.