It's the first time a campdraft has been held in Gravesend for at least 20 years, and one of the few to be held around the region this year due to a lack of cattle available because of the drought.

As a result, the committee was inundated with 1100 nominations, but unfortunately could only take 550 entrants.

"Because of the drought, no-one's got any cattle and if they do, they aren't strong enough to be chased around or trucked," Gravesend Charity Campdraft president Dan Coulton said.

"We were lucky enough to have cattle donated but we've had to limit our runs down to cater for the cattle we've got. We tried our very best to take as many people as we could - we tried to take all local entries and kids, and anyone else we could after that."

The two-day campdraft, set for November 2 and 3, will raise much needed funds for Gravesend father Red McClymont, who is currently in Tamworth undergoing rehabilitation to re-learn to walk and re-gain control of his body after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).

Despite making good progress during rehab, Red recently suffered another set-back.

"He relapsed and lost his fine motor skills, balance and walking," Red's mother Andrea McClymont said.

"His muscles wasted away. He'd lost everything he had spent weeks regaining."

Red has since been diagnosed with CIDP (chronic inflammatory demyialating polynueropathy), on top of the GBS, which affects a person's ability to move, especially their arms and legs, as well as their sensory functions, leading to tingling and numbness. This significantly reduces Red's odds of a full recovery.

"He will possibly need IVIg [intravenous immunoglobulin] therapy for the rest of his life," Andrea said.

"This will be reviewed after six months. But after five days of the IVIg again last week he is starting to walk with a frame again. So hoping there are no more setbacks now."

With Red facing years of rehab and hospital visits, and wife Ellie-May not working while she supports his recovery, the Gravesend, Warialda and Moree communities have rallied behind him and his young family, doing what they can to make life a little easier.

One hundred per cent of profits raised at the Gravesend Charity Campdraft will go to the McClymont family.

"A few of us had toyed with the idea of having a campdraft while having a drink one night, it was very unofficial, but [when Red got sick] we all got into it," Dan said.

"We're a young committee and we hope to make it an annual event. This year [the profits] will all go to Red fella but in the future we'll be able to do more community projects with it."

Dan said the committee has had a "huge amount of support" from the community, with the Gravesend pub and Gravesend Public School to donate all the profits they make from the bar and canteen back to the kitty, while the coffee, snow cone and pancake vans will be donating a portion of their profits.

The judges donated their time and the committee has received "huge" sponsorship money which enabled them to increase the cost of entries.

"Gravesend's like that; everyone chips in to help, and they want to help Red," he said.

"He's going to have ongoing medical treatment for years and years so it's really cool we can help him out."

All the action will get underway from 9am on Saturday, November 2, with a range of campdraft events running throughout the weekend.

On Saturday night there'll be a roast dinner, bar and live music by Mark Colley from Glen Innes.

"It'll be a really good night Saturday night," Dan said.

"There'll be a bar, music and people can have a good time, have a dance and catch up with everyone they haven't seen for a while."

The campdraft is ABCRA-affiliated, so competitors will be competing for points to make the finals in Tamworth.

For more information, go to the Gravesend Campdraft Facebook page.