Gippsland’s best on display at Farm World

2011

This year’s Farm World, held at Lardner Park, West Gippsland, was once again attended by the Gippsland Murray Grey Breeders.

Held over four days in March, Farm World is one of Victoria’s biggest agricultural events, attracting around 650 exhibitors and 55,000 visitors. Each year the Gippsland Group presents a display that is second to none, educating the public about the breed, as well as spreading the word to potential new Murray Grey breeders.

A working bee was held the previous week with all members of the group pitching in to help prepare the display. Having a permanent site, the Gippsland Group has a fantastic set up to display the cattle, where the public can walk in and around the stalls, talk to members at the information stand and stop and sample a Murray Grey beef sausage, which are made especially for the group by Longwarry butcher, The Meat Safe.

Again the group ran a ‘Guess the Weight’ competition, this year people needing to guess the combined weight of a cow and calf. The public, particularly the children, also enjoyed a hands-on experience of bottle feeding the calf.

Melinda Kent, president of the group, and her team worked tirelessly over the entire four days to promote the breed, with many within the group displaying their own cattle.

This year was another highly successful year, with breeders selling cattle and generating many enquiries. With merchandise and 1,500 sausages sold, once again the group covered their costs and made a profit. Plenty of information regarding the breed was handed out, including information for the National Show & Sale and the Lerwick Park dispersal sale.