Organiser, Chris Buckman, said they couldn’t have asked for better conditions and crowd.

“Each place has been different, but we had about 80 competitors and they all enjoyed it. The weather turned it on and we had a huge crowd,” he said.

“We were hoping for about 1500 and I reckon we got pretty close.

“It was just a good chance for farmers to come in, talk to people and have a few hours where they could enjoy themselves.”

Buckman had little doubt the free event helped to swell the crowd numbers.

“It’s not very often you can take the family out for a day’s entertainment and the only money you spend is on food, but people could have brought that in as well,” he said.

“The jumping castle and face painting were very popular with the kids.”

Different classes were contested on the day including the novice saddle bronc and bull ride, the junior bull ride, the junior steer ride, the juvenile barrel race and junior breakaway.

Moree’s Douglas Tighe was a crowd favourite in the junior poddy ride and Olivia Harris performed well in the breakaway roping.

Buckman said the number of competitors was an indication of the importance an event like the rodeo had on a town.

“Most of them had to travel, but we liked the fact this sort of event fits into the culture of Moree and everyone turned out in numbers,” he said.

In amongst the crowd were many generations of families who had been competing in rodeos over the years.

“We had about four or five generations here taking in the action,” Buckman said.

“Some were sitting in the shade under the trees while the others were out competing, which was great.

“It was a really enjoyable day out.”