Young Farmers Challenge offers serious fun for all ages

If you can stack hay, wield a drench gun and aim true with a fire hose, you have what it takes to master Seymour Expo’s Young Farmers Challenge, sponsored by The Weekly Times.

Swift action: The Young Farmers Challenge, run by Ag Skills Victoria and sponsored by The Weekly Times, starts at 1pm daily at Seymour.

CALLING all ace hay stackers and drench gun operators. It’s time to show off those skills in the Ag Skills VictoriaYoung Farmers Challenge, sponsored by The Weekly Times.

Running every day of the expo on the back oval, the fast-paced obstacle course competition is open to teams of four and will include games and races with a theme of on-farm safety.

Ag Skills Victoria director Leon Carter said the event was full of hair-raising fun, but also emphasised an important topic. “Safety is paramount in agriculture,” Leon said. “But a lot of people shun safety because it takes too long or is too expensive.

“So we are especially targeting it at the younger generation, those younger farmers who are 12-35, to demonstrate how easy safety can be.”

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Competitors start the event by packing up their swag. Then they muster (pretend) livestock, use a drench gun to shift litres of liquid, stack hay, build a fence, operate a firefighting pump and all the while stay hydrated.

“With every challenge there is inclusion of personal protective equipment,” Leon said. “We talk about the safety aspect, before, during and after.”

Teams will compete in two categories, under 18 and 18-35, with the aim to finish all tasks in the fastest time. Gold coin donation to participate will be donated to BlazeAid. Challenge starts daily at 1pm.

The Seymour Alternative Farming Expo runs February 14-16.