Celebrating Bruce’s show time
AP&I Show celebrates stalwart Pedley
Horowhenua’s AP&I Show celebrated yet another long-term contributor to its organisation. This year Bruce Pedley was honoured with a certificate and some enlargements of old show photos from the 1960 and 1970s to acknowledge the fact he had been involved with the show for 77 years. That’s all his life.
Ron Horn, who organised the photos and the certificate and gave a speech as he handed them over, revealed that Pedley’s parents started bringing him to the show when he was just a baby.
“As a child, he then helped his parents and eventually exhibited his own cows and much later became a steward of the dairy section,” Horne said.
“His father Arch was a great advocate for the Jersey breed. He bred quality Jerseys himself. His stud was called Kaimatarau and he had an outstanding bull called Kaimatarau Blueboy.
“Bruce eventually started his own herd with wife Rona calling it Sunny Lodge Jerseys. After sharemilking for a few years they purchased their farm on Florida Rd. There they bred an extremely good herd. It would become one of the country’s top producers and bred many champion cows.
“Three years ago Bruce sold the herd, which continues to do well for its new owners. Despite stepping back from an active role as a breeder Bruce has not lost any of his enthusiasm for the Jersey cow.”
At this year’s AP& I Show he was busy as usual in his role as steward for the dairy cattle section and the sudden attention at the end over a cup of tea left him slightly befuddled, though Horn had made sure Pedley’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law were there to witness the event and pose for a picture.
One of the pictures enlarged and framed for the occasion shows Pedley at the show as a young man and another features Kaimatarau Blueboy, which brought back many happy memories.