Welcome to the Elmore Field Days

2007 Another Resounding Success

The 44th annual Elmore Field Days have again been well supported by exhibitors, visitors and the wider regional community of north central Victoria and judged as another resounding success.

Tuesday's crowd was up on last year, with Wednesday numbers slightly down but with Thursday, the final day, finishing on a strong note.

“While it was clear that farmers are keeping a tight rein on their spending on major plant items except for hay, silage and fodder conservation gear, many exhibitors of smaller equipment, tools and related services had a good Field Days.

“As always there was a lot of interest in new equipment and services which we would expect to translate into orders once the we have seen an upturn in the seasonal picture and the industry has regrouped.” Field Days President Derek Shotton said.

For the second consecutive season when many field crops are expected to be converted to fodder, there was obvious strong interest in haymaking and silage gear in particular.

The expanded number of Field Days field demonstrations attracted plenty of interest showing again that farmers like to see equipment operating under paddock conditions.

Other events in the diverse range of Elmore Field Days features also proved to be of significant appeal to visitors, including the Shearing Shed demonstration of the new Shear Ezy machine technology and the entries in the Campaspe Prime Lamb Carcase Competition.

The Ag Art® Competition which has grown exponentially in recent years with record entries again and strong support from schools throughout the north central region also attracted visitor attention and many unusually creative solutions.

On the final day (Thursday) Victoria’s Minister for Agriculture Joe Helper visited the Field Days and attended the launch presentation for the proposed Elmore Equestrian Centre which is planned to be developed on a currently under-utilised section of the Elmore Events Centre site.

Construction is expected to begin in March next year to create the major equestrian competition and training centre facility in regional Victoria.

It is hoped that the development project will attract the support of Federal, State and local government.

The 45th annual Elmore Field Days are scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday, October 7, 8 & 9, 2008.