Expressions of interest have been received from as far away as Toowoomba and Northern New South Wales for the 2016 Malanda Educational Dairy Camp which will be held from Wednesday, September 28 to Saturday, October 1 at the Malanda Showgrounds.
Now in its 28th year, the camp is held biannually with the last one proving to be an outstanding success.
The camp is aimed at both inexperienced and experienced participants, and is open for children aged from eight to 18 years but adults who are interested are very welcome to attend.
Participants don’t need to be from a dairy farming background, as calves can be supplied if required.
The camp will teach valuable skills including the preparation and presentation of dairy cattle for the show ring, with practical areas such as parading, clipping, judging, the use of the microphone and even making a rope halter being covered.
A presentation will be given by the team at the Tableland Veterinary Service, and a valuable safety talk about quad bikes and motorcycles will also be given.
Parents of previous participants have commented that their children’s confidence, self-esteem and maturity was greatly boosted as a result of attending the camp.
"The camp not only teaches skills pertaining to the dairy industry, it also teaches valuable life skills such as meeting new people and public speaking with the use of a microphone," organising committee member Greg English said.
At the completion of the camp, all participants will receive a participation certificate and awards will be presented for various categories.
Attending for a second time and enthusiastically endorsing the eagerly awaited dairy camp is Malanda High School student Rikki Payne.
Despite not coming off a property herself, she took out the ‘Senior Student of the Dairy Camp’ Award as well as the ‘Rabobank Senior Section Champion Leader’ Award at the 2014 camp.
"The reason why I wanted to go to the dairy camp was to gain experience and have fun. Some of my friends had attended previously and had mentioned to me how much fun it was,” Rikki said.
The organising committee greatly appreciates the support provided to the camp by all of the sponsors including Rabobank which is the proud major sponsor.
Following on from the camp, the ‘All Breeds Calf Day’ will be held at the Malanda Showgrounds commencing at 9am on the Saturday.
A strong contingent of calves and heifers representing the major dairy breeds of Holstein, Illawarras, Jerseys and Brown Swiss will be exhibited and judged.
The ‘All Breeds Calf Day’ is open to the public and welcomes spectators to attend.
For more information about the 2016 Malanda Educational Dairy Camp phone Greg and Bronwyn English on 4095 1041/0427 951 041 or Colin Daley on 4097 2193/0428 972 199.
