The field days began in 1963 with Frank Tucker as president and Bert Perry as secretary.

Perry sent letters to 2000 machinery firms or organisations and organised the event in a mere five weeks.

By the fifth annual field days in 1967, the developments in mechanised farming was the major issue.

Perry referred to the field days as ‘nothing out of the ordinary – another good exhibition, but nothing spectacular’.

Organisers estimated about 30,000 people visited the event that year, and the number of women visitors was also up from the previous year.

Later that year the field days committee vowed to fight the Wimmera-Mallee drought and go ahead with planning for the 1968 event.

Wheat stripping demonstrations were excluded from the program that year.

Instead, the committee promoted hay making as the drawcard for the event.

By 1973 a new farming boom meant about 20 exhibitors had sold their stocks on the first day of the event.

A record number of machinery firms booked sites at the 1974 event, with officials labelling the event the best yet.

President Alan Heard said the attendance reflected the desperate need by farmers to combat rising operating costs and machinery prices.

More records fell in 1977, with 145 exhibitors committing to the event.

All sites were sold six weeks before the event, which was officially opened by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

In 1984 the site was booked out more than one month before the event.

Exhibitors scrambled to find accommodation as Horsham motels and hotels were full.

Machinery worth $100 million went on display in 1985 and among the new product releases were a helicoil land packer, pneumatic grain ‘pump’ and a grain drier.

The field days committee considered a night show for the event’s 28th year but later decided to keep the format the same.

In 1992 Horsham City Council rejected a request from organisers for a half-day holiday for the event.

As the world moved into a new millennium the field days also moved into uncharted waters. The event became accessible worldwide for the first time in 2000, with live web broadcasts streamed over the internet.

In 2011 organisers faced a logistical nightmare when flood water inundated the site in January and on the day before the event 23 millimetres of rain fell at Longerenong. After hours of pumping water from the site the gates opened and the event was underway once again.