Travelling farmer to bring the flock

WITH almost twenty-five years of agricultural show visits under his belt, a travelling farmer is about to make his debut at the Ballarat Times 2023 Ballarat Show.

Daryl Sheridan of Farmer Darryl’s Mobile Animal Farm will bring his flock of about 100 animals to the show when it returns from Friday 10 until Sunday 12 November.

Mr Sheridan said there’ll be a variety of farmland friends for attendees to meet.

“We’ll have a collection of sheep and their lambs, some mother goats, and their babies,” he said.

“We’ll also have bottle-fed calves and the kids can bottle feed them twice a day and they can get their photos taken with them.

“There’ll also be a collection of bottle-fed lambs and the same will apply for them. We’ll have some ducks that will swim in a pond, some geese, some chooks, rabbits, two deer.

“I’ll also have my rainbow parakeet Polly who I’ve written a book about and we’ll do story time with her. We’ll have some fantailed pigeons too. It’ll be quite a collection.”

Having grown up around animals on his family’s Donald property before establishing his own farm in Kyneton where he lives with his livestock, Mr Sheridan has been mobile farming for more than two decades.

He averages about 100 events a year, travelling Victoria and New South Wales, and is a regular fixture of agricultural shows across the state.

Despite his impending Ballarat Show debut, Mr Sheridan is no stranger to the region, and has brought his mobile farm to Sovereign Hill and various schools, and taken part in events like the Begonia Festival, for years.

Fresh off agricultural shows in Melbourne, Sunbury, Lancefield, and Seymour, he said Ballarat has long been on his agenda.

“I’d always hoped the Ballarat Show would book us,” he said. “I do love how we appeal to lots of people. Grandmas and granddads like us. Mum and dad like us. The kids like us.

“There’s also a lot of people that show animals and travel the state so agricultural shows are a good way for us to catchup.”

Farmer Darryl’s Mobile Animal Farm will run each day between 9am and 8pm.