This is the path John and Lynda Guy have followed over recent years. John is a competitor as well as chairman of the organising committee for the New Zealand Ploughing Championships to be held at Cambridge on April 14-15.
Lynda qualified and ploughed at the New Zealand Championships when they were held at Palmerston North 14 years ago.
She has not ploughed for some years but kept her interest by becoming a steward, ensuring all the rules are being followed during a ploughing match. One steward checks three ploughmen and she has been a steward at a world championship.
Both got interested in ploughing in the days of the Young Farmers Club (YFC) in Te Awamutu which held regular events.
"I located a plough from under a hedge and, with a borrowed tractor, ploughed my first match in 1974 when it was held on the Waikeria Prison Farm," says John.
He has since ploughed at 17 New Zealand championships held in both islands.
"We really enjoy the sport, have made lots of friends and been to parts of the country we would never have gone to."
John and Lynda married and farmed in the Te Awamutu area milking cows and then spent seven years managing a sheep, beef and arable block.
In 1986 they came to Hamilton milking cows and then to where they now live at Horsham Downs.
He works for a family that has several farms in the area doing repairs and maintenance, checking effluent systems, fencing and building including new dairy sheds.
The furtherest farm is 24km away and as a jack of all trades he just keep the farms ticking along for the owners.
Guy says his homemade plough has the best features of the four original ploughs he cannibalised and modified to get his present machine.
"I stress that it is all kosher and passes all the requirements of the New Zealand Ploughing Organisation."
It has several short parts of measuring tape permanently attached so Guy does not have to use a tape to make the many small adjustments to the plough when competing.
Guy has been using plastic mould boards for four years because he believes they give a better finish on the furrow and are flexible in that different soils do not stick.
"A lot of ploughmen are changing to plastics for these reasons."
Guy has been chairman of the Waikato Ploughing Association for a number of years and four years ago the association put its hand up to run this year's New Zealand Championship.
Once land was found and the stamp of approval obtained from the
New Zealand association, Guy says it has been sheer hard work.
He says everything is coming together. As well as the ploughing with stubble on the first day and grass on the second, the committee has organised trade sites, a vintage tractor and machinery expo, classic cars and displays by the YFC and the Search and Rescue organisation.
Admission is $10 per adult, children under 12 no charge, with free parking.
