Arguably the biggest event on the northern Victorian agricultural calendar, Elmore Field Days attracted crowds from near and far for its 62nd edition.
Good weather contributed towards a successful Elmore Field Days between October 7 and 9.
Exhibitors from a range of industries converged at the Elmore Events Centre, delivering hundreds of displays, demonstrations and activities.
Among the offering were businesses specialising in machinery, irrigation, harvesting and silage, along with finance, planning, education and health.
Exhibitors raised the all-important topic of the weather, with Gary Gibson from Rochester’s Nelson Silos happy with this year’s sunny skies.
“Two years ago, it was 40 degrees,” he said.
“Another year it was so wet, it was just flooded, you basically had to stand on hay bales.
“This year’s probably the best weather, you can’t really complain.”
While the event is useful from a business perspective, McCullochs Hydraulics Engineers director Steve McCulloch also highlighted its social value.
“It’s always a great social thing,” he said.
“We’ve got customers that come and have been dealing with my grandfather and then they come and see me and say g’day.
“It’s a great social outing for the farmers, they get to see all the new technology and then they get to go and speak to their old mates.”
The field days committee also announced the site would host two races in a national jet boat competition next year.
Construction work on the jet boat waterway is expected to start this month.
Elmore Field Days president John Giffin said the event would be another activity to fill the site calendar for the year and would most likely run the same weekend as the annual tractor pull.
John said this year’s field days was very successful, enjoyed clear weather and attracted a strong crowd estimated to be about 30,000.
The expanded Health Hub — sponsored by Fosterville gold mine company, Agnico Eagle Mines — was popular, with queues of people seeking free health checks, and the shearing shed was joined by charity Shearing for Kids with Cancer.
“We’ll look at doing something bigger with the Wanalta-based charity in the future,” John said.
Checking in with the machinery exhibitors, John said while there was steady inquiries, interest may have been affected by the toughening seasonal conditions.
He thanked the volunteers who were the backbone of the event and who numbered more than 500.
Volunteers nominate their club or charity to receive a share of the proceeds raised at the field days.
