UPDATE THURSDAY 5pm:

The clouds parted and the sun came out for the last day of Elmore Field Days, giving it its biggest and best day of the week.

Public relations officer John Giffin said the arrival of the fine weather made up for the less than ideal conditions in the previous two days, and they overall they expected visitor numbers for the three-day event would be on par with previous years.

“We’ve had a great crowd today, one of our better Thursdays I’d think,” Mr Giffin said.

Exhibitors and stallholders told a similar story and for ice cream sellers, the sun could not have come soon enough.

Roberto Ocampo of Natura Ice Cream’s travelled from Hahndorf in South Australia for the event.

The inclement weather deterred him from attending the first day of the field days, but he said even on Wednesday he sold very little.

Thursday was a different experience and he believed that by 3pm he had served close to 1000 people.

At 4.30pm the buzz of the day had quietened as exhibitors began to pack up their products and attendees made their way home.

UPDATE 1.20pm: 

Chris Williams was looking for a niche into the dairy industry. 

Two-years-ago he was share farming for his parents-in-law and wanted to break out on his own. 

But the Kyabram-based farmer knew he needed to find something a bit different. 

And so Chris Williams found camels.  

“Both my wife and I had worked cattle stations in central Australia, so we knew they were out there,” Mr Williams said. 

“Camel’s have got a bad reputation, people think they spit and you and bite you out of spite. But they are actually quite gentle, they are very inquisitive by nature. I’m quite fond of them.” 

Of course, Mr Williams is talking about camels which have been broken in and then accustomed to people – a process which can take up to six months. 

But, for his Camel Milk Victoria agribusiness, the return is worth the effort.

Mr Wiliams said the milk sold at retail for $21 per litre and he also sells soaps, detergents and lip balms. 

UPDATE 12.20pm: The worlds of agriculture and haute couture have collided in Elmore.

The Elmore Field Days fashion show once again demonstrated the creativity of farming families. 

On display were dresses decorated by sheep tags and made from agricultural piping. 

There was a dress called ‘Hands off’ dedicated to the CFA, and one called ‘Beware’, inspired by red back spiders.

Agriculture wasn’t the only source of inspiration – one dress called Brangelina, partially made from bird webbing, was inspired by Angelie Jolie’s wedding dress, which was decorated by her kids. 

But most were, the item’s used to make one included dairy gloves, fertilizer bags and star picket heads. 

UPDATE 12pm: Close your eyes. Imagine a farmer. Any farmer, dairy, sheep, broad acre cropper – pick any one. 

You imagined an old bloke in an Akubra right? 

Well two young woman from Grenville are trying to buck that image. Twenty-year-old Alice Walsh and her 13-year-old sister Claire plan on talking over the family farm as soon and they can.

There’s just a few little things they need to sort out first. 

“I want to run sheep, but she wants to cattle,” Alice said. 

She currently works in Geelong, Claire goes to school in Ballarat. 

Both are keen riders, the reason they came to the Elmore Field Days.

“We’re here for the horse stuff,” Alice said. 

UPDATE 10:30am: It is a chilly 8 degrees at Elmore with mud piled high in the alleys, but attendance is already up from yesterday’s total.

Elmore Field Days president Derek Shotton said organisers were hoping to double yesterday’s figures. 

“We don’t give out attendance figures – we never do,” he said. 

“Yesterday was cold and wet – it was one of the lesser days we’ve had.

“But looking down the alley, looking at the car park, it all looks visually very positive at this stage.

“We’ll know about more how we’re going after lunchtime, when attendance figures start coming in.”

The inclement weather has forced the cancellation of demonstrations and equastrian events have been scaled back.

Mr Shotton said a few exhibitors had not turned out but most were understanding of the difficulties posed by heavy rain. 

“I’m not sure what else we could do – it’s the weather,” he said.

“We just about bought Bendigo out off wood chips.”

UPDATE 8.30am WEDNESDAY: Good morning and welcome to our second day of coverage from the Elmore Field Days!

Today we have reporter Joseph Hinchliffe and photographer Glenn Daniels hitting the road to the field days site. Make sure you say hello if you see them.

Keep an eye on this page for our rolling coverage and photos from the day. And if you’re there, we’d also love to see your photos!

UPDATE 4.45pm: Day one of the Elmore Field Days is drawing to a close. 

Did you get snapped by our photographer at the Elmore Field Days today?

Find out by following this link to our online gallery.

UPDATE 3.30pm: Blustery conditions continue at the Elmore Field Days but organisers are happy with the day’s turnout.

The sun has pocked it’s head out from behind the clouds a few times and dissipating rain is allowing people to get out from under cover for longer periods.

Since Friday volunteers have used breaks in the weather to pump water off site.

"Yesterday and the day before we had people out putting bark chips down around stalls so people could get into stalls," public relations officer John Giffin said.

He said the Field Day's airstrip would remain closed throughout the event because it was too dangerous to land there.

The in-paddock demonstrations also would not go ahead this year.

Mr Giffin said he believed turnout for day one was similar to last year, when numbers were down because of hot weather and strong winds.

He expected more people to come tomorrow and Thursday when milder weather was predicted.

"Tuesday's always our quietest day," he said.

He said many of the people visiting on day one would be looking to make big purchases or make business contacts and would not be deterred by rain or mud.

Update 3.10pm: They are coming from near and they are coming from far for the Elmore Field Days.

Kelly Brady and her family traveled to Elmore from Wanganella, where they work on a cattle farm.

While they weren't planning to buy anything they were keen to look around.

"We come every year, usually for a couple of days. My husband likes to look at the tractor displays - especially the John Deer tents," she said.

"The young fella likes to look at the motorbikes."

Field Days public relations officer John Giffin said organisers target was to draw people in from a 100km radius of Elmore.

"We get people from Swan Hill to Seymour and Horsham to Benalla," he said.

Update 12.55pm: Rain, hail or shine stall holders are vying for business at the Elmore Field Days.

Gallagher territory manager Justin Brown said the Field Days were the biggest event on the calandar in north and west Victoria.

"We get a lot of customers and end-users of our products here,” he said

"A lot of existing store contacts come here to see us and they bring in a lot of their costumers.”

Mr Brown said it was also a chance to show farmers new products they may not have had a chance to see.

"Our site (stall) is very well-branded with distinctive black and orange colours. So it is all about flying the flag and getting our brand out there,” he said.

UPDATE 12.10: As the rain hammers down people and animals alike are keeping snug and dry in the Elmore Field Days’ sheds and display tents.

The shearing shed is proving a busy place, with crowds inspecting new breeds of sheep.

Chair of the Shearing Shed Ged McCormick said this morning’s demonstrations included a newer breed of stock from South Australia called leachim merinos.

Mr McCormick said the breed was becoming increasingly popular in central Victoria because it was a good stock for meat and breeding.

“They’ve done very well getting dry sheep here. It’s been a bit of an exercise keeping them dry but we’ll manage,” he said.

A soggy morning in Elmore has not stopped the crowds flocking to the town’s field days.

It has been raining on and off all morning although the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting showers to become less likely this afternoon.

The Elmore Field Days’ Ged McCormick said there had been a big push by volunteers to make sure the site was not badly waterlogged in the past week.

“Our drainage works very well, it was just a matter of getting the water there,” he said.

Public relations officer John Giffin said the wet weather had led to the closure of the Field Days organisation’s airstrip and the cancellation of in-paddock demonstrations of machinery.

“You cannot walk in the paddocks, let alone drive,” he said.

“But we are going ahead as usual with the rest of the job,” he said.

More action from the Field Days to come.