New board resurrects show
The new chair of the Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) board, Sir David Carter, is pleading for public support for this year's Christchurch Show.
The country’s biggest annual A&P show returns to the association’s base at the Canterbury Agricultural Park, Wigram, from November 9 to 11.
With online ticket pre-sales now “a long way ahead” of previous years, event director Geoff Bone expects at least 100,000 people through the gates. That compares with a high of 115,000 for the 150th anniversary show in 2012 and last year’s rain-affected 96,000 crowd.
Show president Warrick James says the challenge each year is maintaining livestock entries; but along with everyone else involved he is pleased and surprised to see dairy entries up this year despite the dairy price squeeze of the past few seasons.
“It affects things like the shows. It affects everyone in the provinces.”
James is also pleased to see sheep entries holding after declining in recent years because of the rise of dairying on the Canterbury plains.
“That’s really satisfying, with dairying coming into Canterbury a lot of studs are disappearing now, and the need for rams is disappearing.”
Overall cattle numbers are up to 738, from 717 last year. Alpaca entries have shown a big rise, up to 314 from 216 last year.
On the day Rural News visited the site, three weeks before opening day, the bulk of the transformation was yet to start. However, the whole show committee was gathered to nut out the details and operations manager Dugald Thomas was finalising a new layout for the cattle judging ring.
Volunteers including James’ wife Cece and the show’s immediate past president, Nicky Hutchinson, were polishing the 300-odd trophies – many of them decades-old records of the show’s proud history.
With 7000 entries in 2500 individual competitions, and over 500 trade exhibitors, the show is the flagship event for Geoff Bone’s Tenth Dot Management events company, but he emphasises that it would not be possible without the 500 volunteers who turn out year after year.
“We create the structure, make sure they follow the rules, put the prize money together, send out all the communications, give everyone their tickets, take all their entries, then allow all the volunteers to run the show.”
An example is the endurocross event – motorcycle racing on a short dirt course full of spectacular jumps – which will return after running for the first time last year.
Bone says the track, to be built by a group of volunteer endurocross enthusiasts, will cost about $5000 – versus “tens of thousands” if done commercially.
“It’s the volunteer aspect that allows it to happen,” says Bone. “They provide their know-how, we provide them with diggers and dirt, and they build the track.”
He says endurocross fills entire stadiums overseas.
“There’ll be 70 riders from around New Zealand coming to the event. It’ll be the biggest short course enduro event in the country and it’s being created out of nothing.”
The show is also very much a family affair. Committee member Chris Herbert, who runs the country’s only Blonde D’Aquitaine cattle stud in North Canterbury, says he stopped showing in 2008, but the family is taking up the challenge.
“Now our boys (13 and 11) have got to the stage where they’re starting to take things over. So I just back the truck up and unload the cattle and leave them to it. It’s still under my name but they’re doing all the work. I don’t have to worry about it.”
Herbert is another who welcomes the return of dairy entries. “Normally the first thing you’d cut in a downturn is showing expenses.”
James says beef cattle is a royal event this year, under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand. This year’s feature breed is Limousin, in which James will be competing himself with yearlings from his Ben More Limousin stud near Glentunnel in North Canterbury.
James says the events on the Friday – Canterbury’s public holiday show day – will be dedicated to the youth section, which the association had been building up over recent years. Competitors as young as primary school age will be judged on their abilities including stock judging, dairy handling, parading and interviewing; the winner will go on to compete in the Canberra Show.
“There are a lot of kids wanting to get involved, even from the city.”
James says a yearling steer class was run for the first time last year. Those animals are now in a two-year-old prime steer class and will be sold in a live auction as part of a young auctioneers’ competition.
The annual crowd-pleasers will also be back, including dog-trialling, equestrian and woodchopping, for which preparation and de-barking of 1200 blocks of wood is another big task for the volunteers.
The shearing will be a qualifying event for the world shearing championships to be held in Invercargill in March.
Another favourite, especially for city visitors, will be the farmyard.
“We keep calves, lambs, sheep, working dogs, hens and guinea pigs – all sorts of things,” says James. “It’s an opportunity for city kids to get up close. It’s an important part of our show.”
