Tuesday, 15 May 2012 09:03

Young Farmer contest heats up

Written by 

The TBfree New Zealand Young Farmers 2012 National Conference gets underway in Dunedin next week.

The Conference runs between May 24th and 27th alongside the National Bank Young Farmer Contest and is a chance for young farmers to put their skills to the test and their club's reputation on the line in a series of competitions.

The great outdoors themed week is action packed with several competitions on offer for Conference attendees. These include the Goldpine New Zealand Young Farmers national fencing competition, stock judging, tug-of war, photography and debating.

The conference is an opportunity for New Zealand Young Farmers to 'expand their network and to learn something new' says its national chairman Paul Olsen.

The Stock Judging competition will be held alongside the Goldpine Fencing Competition on Thursday 24 May at the Invermay Research Station. New Zealand Young Farmers stock judging competition coordinator Sarah Heddell says 'it's a great way for competitors to learn from experienced breeders which is beneficial to their farming careers'. Heddell says that Competitors will be sheep judging and will also be expected to judge either cattle or deer.

Regional Rivalry will be the hot topic at the Forsyth Barr Stadium Friday 25th May as the Tug-of-War takes place. A team from each of the seven Young Farmer regions will battle it out in the annual tug-of-war challenge. Bragging rights are up for grabs and will be awarded to the winning region.

Photography entries will be on display at the Forsyth Barr Stadium. The competition consists of four categories: People/Animals, New Zealand Young Farmer Activities, Black and White and Landscape. The competition entries 'are of a very high standard this year and this competition allows Young Farmers to show their creative side' says New Zealand Young Farmers manager Sara Russell.

A North Island verses South Island Debate takes place in the evening on Friday 25th May. The topic of the Debate is "The North Island is and always will be the backbone of New Zealand".

Conference packages and a full timetable are available via the New Zealand Young Farmers website (www.youngfarmers.co.nz)

More like this

National Bank rebranded ANZ

Rural banking will be business as usual when the ANZ National Bank rebranding takes place, says chief executive David Hisco (pictured).

Young Farmer kicks off

Young Farmers from all over the country will be brushing up on their agricultural skills over the coming weeks as the 2013 season of The National Bank Young Farmer Contest kicks off on September 29 with the Christchurch District Final.

Double win for the Gardyne family

It runs in the family in Southland: Pete Gardyne and his younger brother Richard will both be heading to grand final in May after they took out the Otago/Southland Regional Final titles for The National Bank Young Farmer Contest and TeenAg Competition respectively in the weekend.

Featured

Gongs for best field days site

Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.

Feed help supplements Canterbury farmers meet protein goals

Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.

National

Machinery & Products

Buhler name to go

Shareholders at a special meeting have approved a proposed deal that will see Buhler Industries, the publicly traded Versatile and…

Grabbing bales made quick and easy

Front end loader and implement specialist Quicke has introduced the new Unigrip L+ and XL+ next-generation bale grabs, designed for…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Risky business

OPINION: In the same way that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, economists sometimes get it right.

Should've waited

OPINION: The proposed RMA reforms took a while to drop but were well signaled after the election.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter