Tanya Barnes is a farmer and a nurse by day and night, but at select times of the year she's also an animal nursery steward. The beloved animal nursery you see at the Parkes Show every year is thanks to Tanya, her predecessors and the band of volunteers who help run it. And despite it being a mammoth task to organise, she wouldn't be anywhere else for that week in August. Tanya has been involved with the animal nursery for about 15 years after she was approached to help, taking over the reins from Karen Ross for the last four. It was a natural progression for Tanya who has a collection of animals on her farm that she includes in the nursery to bring joy to showgoers and borrows others' to complete the attraction. "Sometimes people ask to include their animals in the nursery like puppies they'd like to sell," she said. "Kids love animals. There are a lot of kids who don't normally get to see many different animals. "This (nursery) allows kids to experience something they don't normally get at home or everyday. "It's always so exciting to see their little faces light up, and even the adults'. "I get surprised to see so many adults come in and say 'we can't miss the animal nursery'." Tanya loves knowing the joy her animal nursery brings to people. "Just knowing you've made someone's day, that's what I love," she said. It takes a lot of planning, and it's precise. "People love babies so we have to plan a good month before the show," Tanya said. "Chickens take 21 days to hatch and ducklings take 28 days to hatch. "Leading up to the show I start sourcing other animals. "You do have to be organised, it's not a five minute job." The nursery begins from scratch - volunteers bring-in everything from the panels for the pens, hay and feed to the trees and decorations. It takes two days to set up and a full day after the show to take down. "It really is a whole week from start to finish," Tanya said. Most of the animals are bottle-fed too. "It's a big responsibility looking after someone else's animals," Tanya added. The nursery over the years has featured calves, ponies, goats, ducklings, chicks and chickens, rabbits, lambs, puppies, guinea pigs and alpacas. For the first time last year, and returning this year, was a donkey. There's even been a kangaroo at the Parkes Show. "That's probably the most different animal we've had," Tanya said. "But we had to be careful not to stress it too much because kangaroos stress easy. "It wouldn't be a show without an animal nursery. "It's good because it's one of the attractions that's free." It also wouldn't be possible without the volunteers who help her, including students from Parkes High School and Parkes Christian School who are there throughout the morning on show days. They help clean out the pens and troughs, rake and tidy up, feed the animals and help set up. Aside from the show Tanya takes her animal nursery to markets, Parkes Homegrown, Parkes Public School fete, Southern Cross Village fete and birthday parties.
