South gains plough champs
Asmall rural town in Southland is set to host the New Zealand Ploughing Championships next year.
The Thornbury Vintage Tractor and Implement Club won the rights to host the championships on April 14 and 15 next year.
Southland hosted its first championship final in 1958, and the committee said it was fitting to be hosting the event in Southland 60 years later. Since the first final in Invercargill there have been five more finals held in Southland.
To become eligible for these championships ploughmen and women have competed at qualifying events throughout the country.
The four championship classes are: silver plough (conventional), reversible class, horse plough class, and vintage plough. The winners of the silver plough and the reversible class then go on to compete at the 66th World Ploughing Championships in Ohio next year.
The championships are run with the New Zealand Ploughing Association and will be held on Rochavon, owned by the Hall family, and Nathan and Leigh Ronald’s property, just outside the small Thornbury township.
Championships organiser Athole Bennie said the two-day ploughing event would have both grassland and stubble ploughing, and practice days for the competitors to have a go on the terrain before competing.
The farmers have had to sow their paddocks into barley, but they had to make sure to plough it the opposite direction to what the competition would. The crop has to be sown out in time to be harvested on time for the event.
Bennie said the farmers would likely harvest the crop early and put it into baleage if it did not look like it would be ready on time.
‘‘The farmers are very supportive,’’ he said.
About 36 competitors will come from throughout the country, including six horse teams.
Thornbury club members are hoping to have at least one competitor in the finals, with three ploughmen through to the next stage of qualifiers.
The club has a long history of ploughing matches, holding its first local match in 1956. Since then there have been numerous matches, usually involving vintage ploughing.
However, club president Fraser Pearce said about five years ago the club began ploughing again. Competitive ploughing has since seen a resurgence.
‘‘There’s a real art to ploughing the land.’’
With more modern silver conventional class and the reversible class ploughs, there had been an increased interest in competing and learning the art and skill of ploughing the land, he said.
The ploughmen are judged on different aspects to their craft, including their opening split, weed control, ins and outs, straightness and ends. They have three hours to do their plot.
Alongside the two-day event the committee plans to also host classic cars and trucks, as well as static displays and craft stalls. The Thornbury Rural Heritage Centre will also be open for visitors to look at the history of farming in Southland, as well as machinery used.
While the event is officially two days for the public, for the committee and the competitors it is a big six days. April 10 and 11 will be practice days, April 12 will be a bus trip through Southland, showcasing the district, and on April 13 there will be a rededication service followed by the plot draw and New Zealand Ploughing Association annual meeting.