Fieldays love story caught on film
Most farmers find the latest agricultural gadgets at Fieldays, but Mike and Ryley Short found love.
The Feilding couple’s love story, which started when Mike won the 2009 rural bachelor competition, has been turned into a short film to celebrate the 50th year of the Mystery Creek Fieldays, near Hamilton.
Their story is part of a documentary box set, called Fieldays Stories , on TVNZ Ondemand. The short films capture the stories of people from around New Zealand and the impact that Fieldays has had on their lives.
Mike said he was sceptical of the competition at first.
Ryley was working for Mystery Creek co-ordinating events and noticed Mike’s mop of curly hair and quick wit. Between heats the duo managed time for a few brief conversations, but they soon parted ways.
Mike told reporters after the event he had no idea what his ‘‘ideal’’ woman was and returned to Feilding, not realising he had already met her.
It wasn’t until a chance encounter a year later that sparks began to fly.
Mike, still a bachelor, was invited back to judge the 2010 Fieldays rural bachelor competition. Ryley was stationed at a busy ticket booth when he arrived, and requested to see the event manager.
He looked different from the year before, Ryley said. He’d had a haircut and spruced himself up.
Flustered, Ryley ran into the office, slammed the door behind her and announced to her Fieldays colleagues: ‘‘I’ve just met my future husband.’’
Over the four-day event the two got to know each other and, on the last day, went on their first official date, strolling through the Fieldays site.
‘‘We always say it was love at first sight … after a haircut,’’ Ryley said.
‘‘I remember seeing him compete on a number of different things, but I was pretty busy working. He reckons he played hard to get, but he was just as much into it as I was.’’
Four years later they married at Ryley’s parents’ Gordonton dairy farm.
The Shorts now farm 200 dairy cows, west of Feilding, on 105 hectares.
They have two children – Laney, 3, and Hudson, 1.
Juggling the children and farm has its ups and downs, but they love the lifestyle.
‘‘Farming is way harder than I ever thought it was going to be. It’s not been a bed of roses,’’ Ryley said.
‘‘It’s a constant learning curve. The good thing is that we find we’re better when we’re working together.’’