Busy Southern Field Days

Press, 2 March 1984, Page 19

Busy Southern Field Days

A number of Canterbury manufacturers are heading south to exhibit at the Southern Field Days, near Gore on March 14 and 15. Highlights of the competitive side of the field days programme are the Gallagher South Island Insultimber Fencing Contest, the Farm Skills Pentathlon Contest to find an Otago-South-land team to contest the New Zealand final at the Auckland Easter Show, and the Inventions Award for amateurs. The field days will begin on the Wednesday, March 14, at 9 a.m. on the property of Mr K. Bowmar, a few kilometres west of Gore. The Southern Field Days were previously held in Gore in 1982 and last year the event was held at Lincoln College and called the Y.F.C. South Island Field Days. Young Farmers Clubs in the Southland-Otago and Canterbury regions now plan to alternate the field days between the two locations. This year’s event at Gore has attracted 80 exhibitors and a busy timetable of working demonstrations has been drawn up. Wednesday, March 14 will see the fencing competition in the morning and the farm skills pentathlon which will run throughout the day, as well as the programme of working demonstrations. The Field Days will be officially opened by Sir

Erskine Bowmar after lunch. The working demon-strations-on the Wednesday will include spreaders, sprayers, mowers, fencing and hay rakes, conditioners and balers. On Thursday, March 15, the inventions award winner will be announced, while the working demonstrations will continue with the farm vehicles, silage and cultivation equipment. There will be a demonstration by the Forest Service, using a helicopter to douse a fire at lunch time which should make good viewing. The organisers say some interesting comparisons can be made between the 1982 and 1984 list of exhibits.

Silage equipment entries have soared this year with 14 models of feed out wagons to be demonstrated. In 1982 there were two. There have also been increases in the hay bale handling equipment demonstrations. There will be no combine harvesters working in the barley crop this year, and as in 1982, there will be no irrigation equipment displayed. A new section this year is soil aerators — both new and time honoured. The James Aerator is a newly developed machine that lifts the ground and honeycombs the compacted soil, while the M.A.F. will be demonstrating ways of increasing soil aeration by using earthworms.