Key industry event Sheep Connect has been cancelled leaving organisers ‘out of pocket’
The Western District’s biggest event has been canned as Covid-19 lockdowns continue to put event planning into chaos.
One of Western Victoria’s most important annual agricultural events has fallen victim to Covid this morning.
After a year of planning the Sheep Connect event scheduled to run in place of Hamilton’s flagship field days, Sheepvention, will not go ahead.
Due to the ongoing uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic, Sheepvention was due to be replaced with a new event, Sheep Connect, to be held on Monday, August 2 and Tuesday, August 3, at the Hamilton Showgrounds.
But the organising committee headed by Strathkellar farmer and vet Kathryn Robertson has made the “very disappointing decision” to cancel the pared-back replacement event.
Sheep Connect was expected to consist of a conference, trade sites and ram sale, with the conference including keynote speaker, Jason Trompf speaking on reproductive efficiencies.
The conference will now be postponed to a later date, while the trade site displays — with 250 lined up — cancelled.
The multi-vendor Merino ram sale, the largest in Australia, however, will go ahead online, as it did last year.
Sheep Connect president Dr Robertson said everyone in the community was looking forward to the event which would have delivered a major economic boost to the Western District.
Dr Robertson said the decision was made in light of the uncertainty around the extended lockdown in Victoria.
“We needed to have a big set up day next week and couldn’t see how that would happen,” she said.
The P&A society would now be “out of pocket” due to the late cancellation of the trade display side of the event, she said.
“We tried very hard to manage the financial risk side of things but to have to cancel so close to the event, it isn’t great,” she said.
“While Sheep Connect wasn’t going to be as big as Sheepvention, before the restrictions came in we had people booked to come from NSW, SA and all over Victoria so it would have helped the town.
“It has been really hard for everyone when you don’t know what is happening and yet everyone is very enthusiastic to keep events going.
“We certainly hope Sheepvention will return, as it was in 2019, next year.”
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