26
October 2014
CANTERBURY
A&P SHOW
There are few events which sum up the spirit of rural New Zealand better than a traditional A and P show — the livestock, the wood chopping, the home baking and the carnival atmosphere make for a memorable day for both farmers and their families — and for cosmopolitan folk who may only see real sheep and cattle at show time from year to year. Bringing town and country together in this way is the stated aim of the Canterbury A and P show — and it’s a role which the yearly get-together has fulfilled admirably for many, many years. With over 100,000 visitors expected, this year’s show is set to be a big one. More than 7,000 livestock and feature competition entries are expected, and there will be over 3,000 animals on site — chewing through 60 tonnes of green feed.
Some 550 volunteers help run the show — contributing to well over 20,000 volunteer hours and they will be supporting 600 trade exhibitors. Over the course of the show $100,000 in prize money and 4,000 prize ribbons are distributed, and the event generates total direct spending of around $16.7 million. Around 60 baby lambs will be born in the Sheep Maternity Ward and 45 baby chicks hatched in the Mike Greer City Farmyard.
The Ferris wheel will make around 2,500 loops over the three days, and for the inner man, more than 1,200 whitebait sandwiches will be consumed.
Lambs from around the country are tender tested at Lincoln University before the all-important final taste test is carried out at the Canterbury A&P Show on Wednesday 12 November.
Entertainment
Dairy Row
Salmonella Dub, Jody Direen and Nomad will be performing live on all three days of the Show on the Village Green. Captain Festus McBoyle will be entertaining the children on the Tip Top Lawn with some swashbuckling tunes.
A new trade exhibition area in 2014 dedicated to dairying. Key exhibitors include Fonterra and MPI.
Mint Lamb Competition
Now in its third year, the Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition is an entertaining place to stop off at the Show on Friday 14
Now in its eighth year, the Mint Lamb Competition celebrates New Zealand’s best lamb.
Young Auctioneers’ Competition
The Saracen Side drafTing cruSh Features Include: • Fully welded flat tread plate floor which allows easy access for suckling calves when training on to teat. Each side of the Saracen Drafting crush has centrally closing access gates (like the full access crush) to the bottom section, with a back up bar system, contained within the outer drafting gates. • Access gates have up & down bolts. There is a fully removable rail to the top section as a full length of the crush, similar to the easy access sections on a crusader crush to allow access to the back of the animal • The unique part of this crush is that it allows the whole side gate to be opened up so that any animal approaching the crush can easily be drafted out to either side, with one operator able to do this from the rear of the crush. The drafting gates close to the front of the crush and hangs from the rear, so the animal will be heading away from the
Measurements: Length: 2815 mm Width: 838 mm Internal Width: 738 mm Height: 2000 mm
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Contact Lucy Baker Phone: 03 318 6934 Email: riverdownsteel@gmail.com Mobile: 021 143 3469 Website: www.riverdownsteel.com