A little rain seemed to do nothing to deter crowds for opening day at this year’s Farm World field days in Warragul, Victoria.
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Now in its 52nd year, the event is packed with exhibitors, many of whom were keen to show off new product.
For example, Scott Briggs from PFG says his company has two new gadgets on show. First up is a McHale Fusion Vario 3 – a variable chamber baler and bale-wrapper combo.
“We did a launch in New Zealand last week for dealers from Australia,” he says. “And now this is the first time the public has seen it.”
Also on show is a Kverneland Taarup 595M Butterfly Combo.
“It’s a front and rear straight bar mower combination, mainly for your contractors, who can cover a wide area in one pass,” Briggs says.
He says Farm World is a useful preview for the local season.
“It’s really to get some interest before the season starts, especially down this way for hay and sileage. Last year was certainly successful for us.”
Julie Smith, from Community College Gippsland, was fielding enquiries for her employer.
“We’re representing our training organisation and the courses it offers to the public, which includes classroom-based and trainee-based apprenticeships,” she explains.
“We’re just trying to get out to our local community so everybody knows who we are and how we can help.”
The college’s offerings include hair and beauty, children services, youth work, aged care, a cert three in agriculture through to an advanced diploma in agribusiness management.
The event has a number of live demonstrations on offer, such as a Claas Jaguar 950 series forage harvester demo at Claas Harvest Gippsland’s site (CB126-129).
John Deere dealers are also running “try before you buy” demos for its range of tractors and Gator ATVs.
Machine demos aside, there is a wide range of other things to see and do at the field days to keep the rest of the family occupied such as pony rides, cooking demos and historical displays.
In conjunction with its 2014 theme of “Health and Wellbeing”, Farm World will be holding a number of free medical checks at a specialised auditorium on-site.
The field days continue until Sunday March 30.
The weather will be warming up over the weekend to a top of 28 degrees on the last day.
For more information and pictures from Farm World 2014, visit our events listing page.
Photography: Guy Allen