Friday, 17 April 2015 09:23

Smooth start to field days

Written by Rural News Group

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

The articulated Ropa fodder beet harvester was a highlight of the machinery demonstrations at SIAFD.

Organisers of the 2015 South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) are pleased with how smoothly the three-day event ran last month at its new site near Kirwee.

Organising committee chairman Alastair Robinson says turnout was greater than expected. “We aimed to have more than 25,000 and our preliminary entry receipts show we had 27,655, not including exhibitors or children.”

Robinson is pleased with how well the field days came together, considering all its infrastructure had to be developed in the short time between site takeover in November and the opening.

Best site awards recognised exhibitors’ many efforts.

The large site award went to Lely Center Ashburton, which featured robotic milking; Isuzu Utes NZ and Cochranes won second and third prizes, respectively.

Small site awards went to Tyremax LP, AdvanceQuip NZ and RD Petroleum.

Machinery demonstrations, always a major draw at SIAFD, were again very popular with the crowds.

Origin Agroup won the best demo award the range they exhibited throughout the event and for their professional commentary.

The Agri-Innovation awards were another highlight, enabling entrants to demonstrate their inventions and technological innovations. There were three categories.

Patrick Roskam (17) won the top award for the best farm tool or farm aid invention with his Gudgeon Pro 5-in-1 gate hanger; best New Zealand-made invention went to Coolsense for its Vari-Cool fast cooling system for milk; and the award for the best imported machine went to the Shelbourne Powerspread muck spreader exhibited by Toplink Machinery.

The next SIAFD at Kirwee will be on March 29-31, 2017.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in Machinery & Products

More like this

SIAFD knocks it out of the park!

While the temperature was struggling to reach about 5 degrees and the horizontal hail had enough grunt to slice cheese, the SIAFD committee knocked it out of the park by delivering another great event.

It's all about the gear

A couple of the machines that will be on show at the 2023 SIAFD have effectively already done their live demonstration.

Small beginnings

SIAFD started in the 1950s as machinery demonstrations on a leased site at Lincoln.

A family affair

The South Island Agricultural Field Days is a family affair for brothers Andrew and Nathan Stewart.

SIAFD wins punters' plaudits

After celebrating its 70th year last month, it looks like the South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) has hit its heights - with most exhibitors spoken to considering it to now be the 'best' field day of any sort in the country.

Featured

Te Pari Acquires NZ Sheep Handler Brand Combi Clamp

Oamaru-based livestock handling specialist Te Pari has bought Combi Clamp, the New Zealand manufacturer of Combi Clamp manual sheep handlers.

RSE Scheme Changes Coming - McClay

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.

New App StockScore Digitises Livestock Condition Scoring

A new app designed in New Zealand aims to help sheep, beef and deer farmers capture, analyse and use body condition score data more effectively.

Andy Macfarlane Joins AgriZeroNZ Board

Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.