Volunteer crew do grand job
A team of 25 volunteers pulled off a remarkable feat by putting aside their jobs to run the South Island Agricultural Field Days.
One of them was Dunsandel dairy farmer cum media liaison officer Dan Schat, who said he had a couple of guys at home on the farm ‘‘taking up the slack’’ while he contributed to the smooth running of the three-day event.
‘‘I do the ads in the paper and on the radio and the social media. All that kind of stuff. I don’t have any official media qualifications but I enjoy it. Although some of the other boys give me a bit of grief that I’m not swinging a shovel.’’
Schat said organisers were ‘‘very happy’’ with how the event had gone. ‘‘It was muddy the first day but you have to play the cards you’re dealt. Two years ago it was a dust bowl.
The second day on Thursday had an amazing turnout, he said. ‘‘It was really hot and the catering marque ran out of water. The lanes were busy, the exhibitors were happy, there was good engagement from the public - that’s all we can ask for.’’
Schat said the main focus of the field days was to demonstrate machinery and to carry out active comparative demonstrations so that contractors and farmers could see a product working and use that knowledge to decide on a purchase.
‘‘That’s why we have the daily demonstration programme each day,’’ Schat said. ’’Other field days don’t have this. This is a point of difference for us going forward.’’ The demonstrations had gone really well, he said.
‘‘You get big crowds down there - close to lunch time, there are thousands of people watching. Everyone seems to love the silage choppers - hearing the noise and seeing them in action.
‘‘The beet harvesting is always a very popular demonstration, and to a lesser extent the cultivation. Anything that has action gets people.’’
Schat said it was too early to know exact gate numbers but the organisers were hoping for 30,000.
The field days event works in with the other regional field days around the country, Schat said. It followed Central District Field Days by a few weeks.
The freight companies need time between to move everything down to the South Island.
Two first-time exhibitors took out the ‘‘best site’’ awards. Alpine Sheds won the best large site category
‘‘Some people will look at it and think ‘it’s just a shed,’ but they put a lot of effort into barking the floor and fitting it out with TVs and displays,’’ said Schat
Another first-time exhibitor was the Sudley Angus and Silverstream Charolais and Hereford display which won the best small site award.
‘‘They did it all themselves, didn’t use a professional company for the design. They did a really good tidy display and included the livestock,’’ Schat said.
Some of the items of machinery on display were worth well in excess of $500,000, he said.
‘‘Definitely bits of kit over half a million dollars like silage choppers and beet harvesters, the combine harvester and potato harvester. I think the general public isn’t aware what farming machinery costs.
‘‘It’s no mean feat to buy these things and that’s why farmers need high crop yields. It impacts on everybody.
‘‘When the milk price drops the dairy farmer doesn’t buy the new Hilux, doesn’t buy grain off the grain farmer. There is always a roll on effect.
‘‘Whether we like it or not we are all affected by agriculture in one way or the other.’’
Schat said the event, with 550 exhibitors, was slightly larger than last year.