Field days are scheduled for Warragul, Victoria and several other venues that were cancelled in 2020.

All of these events will take care of the basics and no doubt there will be sign-ins and hand sanitisers, but it's great to see friends and be able to act normally.

Cumnock district held its first ever ewe competition recently and claims 90 people attended the event.

Bathurst's competition attracted those numbers in its early years and the segmenting of our district seems to have retained much of the interest.

Comments were made this year that a lot of this year's spectators hardly looked at the wool and simply enjoyed a good day out.

EVERY Bathurst and district resident should raise a glass of something to secretary Brett Kenworthy, president Col McPhee and every helper who is busily putting together this year's Royal Bathurst Show.

Our district show is a real fun event for kids and young lovers and provides a great chance to catch up with friends.

Bathurst really needs such a social event at present as we rattle away the COVID chains and their restrictions.

How lucky were we to be born in this great land and to live in peace in the Central Tablelands.

OTHER RECENT RURAL NOTEBOOK COLUMNS:

FEDERAL Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud assures farmers that the farm management deposit scheme will continue following a review.

There are 49,000 FMD accounts holding $5.3 billion and many are used as a tax-managing facility.

A maximum of $800,000 per entity is allowed and farmers have been urged to use the scheme as a drought relief measure that quarantines income in good years to help minimise income tax.

Please plan carefully with your accountant before locking into an FMD. The devil can be in the detail.

HATS off to Local Land Services, which has waived land and stock rates for the third consecutive year.

I'm often asked if LLS needs to have 11 individual regional boards instead of having LLS NSW with staff as at present in the region but only one general manager at head office and a single board of management.

If efficiency is a hallmark, it seems to me that 11 separate boards only operate in an advisory capacity.

When I was involved in the system for some years, I was often reminded that "it's only the PP Board when it's all boiled down".

SOLAR pumping systems for farm water supplies have proven their worth during cloudless summer and dry winters in recent decades, but heavy cloud cover in recent weeks has shown us the reverse side of sun pumps.

One farmer lost several storage tankfuls of stock water and 14 days later his solar pump has just refilled one tank.

Future battery storages will solve this type of problem and the evolution of electricity-operated vehicles and machines will happen quickly.

I hope to live long enough to see solar panels on farm machines that are almost noiseless.

TO look around almost every district in NSW, we have to ponder where did all the merino sheep go?

From the collapse of the wool reserve price scheme with a leftover stockpile of more than four million bales, through three droughty decades and the hopeless attempt to eradicate OJD, the exit of wool producers could be understood.

There were 180 million sheep living in Australia in the late 1980s and only 64 million are now in residence.

A yarn to several producers tells of their reasons for switching to Aussie Whites, cattle or perhaps goats.

They talk of heavy, constant workloads, serious problems with no mulesing, scarcity of shearers and staff, and casuals who don't do sheep work.

There has probably never been a better time to be "in merinos" and there are a lot of under 50 farmers who know this and they aren't taking their eyes off the ball.

They may gradually change the culture of rural industry, but every day we see more of the wool industry's infrastructure being dismantled.

MARKETS for store and prime beef cattle remain strong with a worldwide thirst for protein and a great season driving the demand.

Stud bull sales have shown a marked increase in averages since last year's sales and this increase is often in the order of one third.

Speckle Park cattle have proven their worth with few calving problems and an ability to cross well with Angus females.

As always, if we buy cheap cattle, that's exactly what we get, and stock that seem really expensive are often the very best value.

Meanwhile, auctions plus online auctions continue to sell good numbers of cattle and sheep and a lot of these sheep crossed the Nullarbor during last winter.

Restockers are outlaying big amounts on breeding stock, but paddocks full of growing feed will tempt the most timid of livestock traders.

WEEK 38 has seen the wool market falter by 2.5 per cent - or a downward movement of 32ac of the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI).

We have seen an increase of 106,000 bales or an extra 11.5 per cent sold to the trade compared with the same time last year.

This, accompanied with some shipping delays causing financial restraints, has had a dampening effect on our wool market.

Wools "on hold" have been offered and sold with more quantities still to come on to the market.

So, these unseasonal supply increases should quench extra demand.

Consumer confidence in South Korea and Japan is building, while China is strongly positive.

The US, EU and UK countries are reflecting the effects of the COVID-19 virus, with low consumer spending on textiles. These countries watch and await the success of the vaccines.

Sentiment is still positive.

Week 39 sees an offering of 47,000 bales Australia-wide.

GEORGE was sent to do the shopping.

"These are for my dear wife," he said to the fellow in the fruit and vegie section, "have they been treated with harmful sprays?"

"No, sorry old mate," the man replied, "you'll have to do that yourself."

***

TWO 55-year-old ladies were discussing the upcoming Race Club Ball.

"We're asked to wear dresses of the colour of our husband's hair, so I'm wearing black," Mavis said.

Rose blushed and said: "I'd better stay at home."

***

THE elderly farmer's wife is growing old disgracefully; last week she won a wet shawl contest.

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