VARIETY is the only way to sum up the Bathurst City Centre animal nursery at the Royal Bathurst Show.
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The nursery, run by staff and students from Bathurst High School, features a long list of cute farm animals that are on loan to or are owned by the school.
Patrons are able to meet ducklings, chickens, rabbits, pigs, alpacas, lambs, boer goats, calves, turkeys, guinea fowl, geese, donkeys, deer and aviary birds.
Co-ordinating it all is agriculture teacher Peter Matus, with the assistance of about 100 students.
“They are really, really good; they do such a great job and are such great ambassadors for the school,” he said. “We’re very proud of them and so are their parents.”
Friday is traditionally the slowest day at the show, however, Mr Matus said the nursery was experiencing a steady flow of people.
Each year, Bathurst High School introduces a new initiative to the nursery so regular show patrons can have a slightly different experience each time they visit the show.
A duck pond and slide was last year’s initiative. Showgoers are able to see ducklings climb up a ramp for food and end up tumbling into the water.
This attraction is still proving popular.
“Now they’ve got smart enough; they wait until they’ve got a mouthful of food and then they intentionally slide down to get a drink of water,” Mr Matus said.
This year, the school has introduced an incubator containing chicken eggs.
These are expected to hatch over the weekend.
The display was built by teacher Joe Hardy and painted by students from Bathurst High.
A wishing well has been placed at the entrance to the animal nursery and people are encouraged to give a donation when they visit the animals.
The money is greatly appreciated by the school.
“It goes to buying equipment we can use in the animal nursery and for breeding programs at the school farm,” Mr Matus said.