EVELYN.THORN@cluthaleader.co.nz
The 68th New Zealand National Ploughing Championships attracted a fine turnout as competitors fought to be master of the furrow in Milton last weekend.
The two-day championships, which began last Friday, featured tractors, silage choppers, horse-drawn ploughs and modified tractors.
Tokomairiro Ploughing Association president Nigel Woodhead was ‘‘chuffed’’ with the number of people out and about for the championships.
‘‘I’m very excited with the amount of entries and supporters,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got people from all over the country.
‘‘A lot of them made the journey down here to compete, which is awesome.’’
The championships had five judged ploughing classes — including the silver plough conventional ploughing, reversible plough, contemporary plough and the Clydesdale horse-drawn plough.
Other categories included fun plough events, tractor pulling and colouring competitions for children.
Competitors for the judged classes had qualified in matches around New Zealand.
Romahapa 13-year-old Jake Watt loves his tractors, and had a crack at ploughing in the competition with the assistance of his grandfather Johnny Watt.
Jake used his granddad’s 1966 International Tractor and had been learning the ways of ploughing from him for a couple of years.
His grandfather represented New Zealand in ploughing championships in Kenya in 1995 and England in 2000.
Jake said he ‘‘really enjoyed’’ using tractors at home on the farm and took every opportunity to help in topping paddocks.
He said it was ‘‘cool’’ to be young using a tractor in the competitions with lots of people who were older than him.
He was keen to take part again next time.
First place in the silver conventional plough went to Mark Dylan from Riversdale, and winner of the reversible plough was Murray Granger from Mosgiel.
Both winners of their sections are eligible to go to the world ploughing championships in Estonia next year.
