Since 1983, the small town of Barcaldine has pulled in crowds by playing host to the premier tri-annual Westech Field Days, and Elders has been there with organisers every step of the way.
This year marks 40 years of Elders’ partnership with the Westech Field Days as a major sponsor.
In addition to the trade sites that proved to be popular with visitors and clients alike, Elders also facilitated the coveted Westech Field Days Merino and Poll Merino Ram Sale. This year’s sale saw Merino studs from as far as Surat, Mitchell, Morven and Tambo, QLD bringing their rams to auction.
Elders QLD/NT State Wool Manager, Bruce McLeish, commented on how well the rams presented in the sale, considering the drying conditions.
“The rams were prepared very well by all of the attending studs, with tough competition across the board, and is a real credit to the stud owners,” Bruce said.
The ‘Best Pen of the Sale’ award was won by Lansdowne Merino Stud and represented by Chris Turnbull who travelled all the way from Tambo for attend the event. Pictured here with Elders' QLD/NT State Wool Manager, Bruce McLeish and QLD GM, Lisa Hewitt
Elders Blackall rural products manager Cassie Schultz emphasised the importance of the partnership for the local community.
“Westech is a wonderful community event supported by the locals,” she said.
"As always with these events, they create a great platform for our Elders team to get together and network with each other and our clients.
“I particularly enjoyed being able to catch up with our western clients, many of whom travelled from afar. It was great to chat with them and get to understand their varying production systems better.”
Recently joining the Elders team in Queensland, Richard Bright has been the area manager for southwestern Queensland for nearly four months, and enjoyed getting up to Barcaldine to interact with the team and clients.
He said he is pleased to be involved in the fortieth year of Elders’ ongoing sponsorship.
“There was great feedback from our clients and the local community around the ongoing investment Elders has, in not only the event and trade site, but also our continuing support of the bull and ram sales, both being held in conjunction with the field days,” he said.
“We have been supporting Westech Field Days as a major sponsor for the last 40 years, and it is just one example of the support and commitment we have for western Queensland agriculture.”