2018 Hay and Silage Demo Day rakes in a crowd

About 15 hay tool manufacturers and dealers made hay while the sun shone at the biennial 2018 Hay and Silage demo day held last week at Lardner Park in Warragul, south east of Victoria.

About 400 people from around Victoria, NSW and even Tasmania showed up at the event where they were treated to a series of hay equipment demonstrations; from rakes and tedders to balers and mowers.

Baw Baw Shire Councillor, Mikaela Power, officially opened the event. She acknowledged the current challenges faced by many in the farming community but expressed how wonderful it was to see so many in attendance, both farmers and industry representatives.

To ensure the paddocks were prepared and ready for the event, Lardner Park locked the paddocks up for nearly four months prior to the day and were soil sampled with a base fertiliser and silage booster, supplied by Gibson’s Groundspread.

Lardner Park Farm Manager, Anthony Willems, said the paddocks were over-sown with an annual tetraploid ‘Hogan’ from seed and pasture company Heritage Seeds back in autumn to ensure pasture density and height.

In total, 46 bales of hay were produced at the event which will be used on the working farm at Lardner Park.

Some of the brands represented on the day include KUHN, Krone, Case IH, Poettinger, Kverneland, CLAAS and more.

Visitors also had a glimpse into the future of farming when Geoff Joyce from the Institute for Drone Technology demonstrated a weed spraying drone, the DJI AGRAS MG-1 which has a 10kg payload and can cover up to 10 acres per hour.

The octocopter is ideal for use in tricky and hard-to-get-to areas such as steep terrain where safety is a concern.

KUHN product manager, Michael Murer, who presented KUHN’s baling products at the 2018 Hay and Silage demo day, said the event was a great opportunity for the company to gauge interest from customers and talk to them about its new range of products.

The company demonstrated a wide range of offerings on the day, including the new Merge Maxx rake and the FBP 3135 baler-wrapper.

“While it’s good for customers to kick tyres at the field days, a live demo like this is better so they can feel and touch and see the machines in practice,” Murer said.

Farm machinery dealership Gendore took home the overall prize for ‘Best Demonstration’ on the day.

“The Hay & Silage Demonstration Day is such an important agribusiness connector and core to what Lardner Park does,” said Lardner Park CEO, Nicola Pero.

“We look forward to continuing to expand and deepen our agribusiness activations through educational and learning opportunities, with events such as Harvest Fest, a new small farming and lifestyle event for Gippsland (November 9 to 11, 2018) and Farm World (April 11 to 14, 2019).”