Farmers and fencers battle elements
Bouts of rain and sunshine passing through the Central Districts Field Days reflected the shopping mood of farmers.
Organisers estimated at least 25,000 visitors, up on previous years, attended the three day event at Manfeild Park in Feilding. Some stall holders reported brisk trading for smaller items as ‘‘cautiously optimistic’’ farmers checked out farming equipment including quad bikes, tractors and water tanks. Dairy farmers appeared to be more hesitant after a trying season lowering milk production and were keen to lower debt, while sheep and beef farmers were overall more upbeat on the back of higher prices.
The fencing competition came down to the wire at the fieldays with only one-and-half points separating the winners.
Tim Stafford from Marton and Kapiti’s Jeff Joines pipped father and son duo Shane and Tony Bouskill from Hawke’s Bay to win the Gallagher Shield even though
Dairy farmers appeared to be more hesitant after a trying season.
the Bouskills finished first. They were among 10 pairs building a five-wire electric fence with a tape gate at one end and steel gate at the other end using hand tools only. Once the Bouskills finished, the other pairs incurred one penalty for every minute longer they took to finish.
‘‘Although we finished first, we made a small mistake with our insulators which cost us points,’’ Shane Bouskill said. The Hawke’s Bay duo are the national champions and were keen to put in a good performance at the event in the build-up to defend their title at the National Fieldays in June.
Otago man Troy Calteaux denied defending champion Steve Galbraith of Napier a hat-trick to take out the title of the country’s best excavator operator after an intense two-day competition.
Calteaux, of Milton, proved his advanced skills in all aspects of excavator operation during the Civil Contractor New Zealand’s National Excavator Operator Competition. Tricky tasks included peeling a watermelon and painting a number with excavators.