The recent 'Be Road Ready for Harvest Field Day', held at the Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange, was a success with a record-breaking 90 people attending.
Attendees were a mixture of farmers, contract harvesters, transport companies, agricultural machinery retailers, grain receival sites, government agencies, council staff and relevant associations.
The event was supported by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, Transport for NSW, the Grain Transport Safety Network, NSW Police, NSW Rural Fire Service, Pacific National, Essential Energy, local agricultural machinery retailers, NSW Farmers and the Australian Custom Harvesters Association.
Council road safety and injury prevention officer, Melanie Suitor, said anecdotal feedback from attendees on the day was very positive.
"Rules and regulations do change and events like this are important to ensure people are up to date on what's required before the upcoming harvest period," Ms Suitor said.
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"There were presentations about the NSW Light Vehicle Agricultural and Indivisible Item Exemption Notice 2024, load restraint, fatigue, safety around powerlines, fire safety during harvest, railway level crossing safety and more.
“We did a deep dive into dimensions, signage and other travel conditions for moving agricultural machinery, combinations and trucks on the roads.
"The highlight of the morning were the interactive activities, including a hands-on machinery display, where participants were able to measure various vehicles and implements and read the relevant notice to work out what the travel requirements are.
“We also conducted a load restraint demonstration that allowed attendees to try different forms of load restraints with attached weight scales to calculate the amount of force respective forms of restraint were able to bear.
"This then enabled attendees to judge and discuss various loads onsite and if they thought the restraint types utilised were capable of holding down the load and what potential areas for improvement could have been."
Ms Suitor thanked Forbes Machinery Centre, Hutcheon and Pearce, O'Connors, Bob Wythes, Luke Magill, Greg Dunn and Richard Nixon who were very generous in loaning the equipment for the displays.
"Thanks to everyone who assisted with organising and promoting the event. And a bigger thank-you to everyone who registered and attended," Ms Suitor said.
If you missed the field day … free satellite events covering the same content will be held in Tullibigeal, Jemalong and Alectown in the coming weeks (with dinner/breakfast provided). Details are as follows:
• Monday 25 August from 3pm – 6pm at the Tullibigeal Community Hall
• Tuesday 26 August from 7.30am – 10.30am at the Jemalong RFS Shed
• Wednesday 27 August from 7.30am – 10.30am at the Alectown Memorial Hall
Registration is free but spaces are limited, so get in quick. Register via the Parkes, Forbes or Lachlan Shire Councils' Facebook pages or this link: https://forms.office.com/r/MmMPU3D2Y1
