Fieldays Exhibitor Issue #1

Fieldays Exhibitor
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Issue 1
Produced by WINTEC Media Arts students since 2004
NEW MAN IN CHAIR
NEW TWISTS
... but he’s an old
hand at Fieldays
Wire sculptures
weird, wonderful
Page: 6
Page: 4
PHOTO: Dion Mellow
Sculpture
celebrates
innovation
theme
By Kelsey Fletcher
A
two-and-half tonne sculpture of metal
pitchforks, wagon wheels, hand tools, and
more is set to be unveiled by Prime Minister
John Key at the opening ceremony today.
The Innovation Tree, created by wellknown Hamilton artist Marti Wong, is a
representation of the old and new farming
ways and was commissioned to fit with this
year’s Fieldays’ theme of Innovation for
Future Profit.
Most of the farming equipment in the
sculpture was donated by the Ag Heritage
Village at Mystery Creek.
The sculpture is in front of the Mystery
Creek Pavilion.
Ag Heritage Village curator Terry Harpe
thinks the tree is a good representation of old
farming equipment and said Wong did a good
job with what he had to work with.
“It’s very creative and imaginative with a
humorous depiction from old to new,” he said.
Wong said although The Innovation Tree
was a completely different kind of work for
him, he enjoyed making it.
“The idea was to show the developments in
innovations in the past that people probably
take for granted now. It will be good to see
some of the older things that the older people
would recognise that the younger people
won’t.”
The sculpture took him about three weeks
to make. “The whole idea was to make it tall.
It was a bit of an organic project depending on
what I had available,” Wong said.
The opening ceremony will be held on the
Village Green at noon today.
BITS AND PIECES: Marti Wong’s scultpure, The Innovation Tree
Call 0800 2 WINTEC (0800 2 946 832), text ‘info’ to 8283 or visit www.wintec.ac.nz
2
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Fieldays Exhibitor
The Exhibitor
Fieldays Exhibitor is created by
Wintec students and distributed to
exhibitors at Fieldays.
The Exhibitor has been
published since 2004 and has
been recognised by the NZ
National Fieldays Society for its
Outstanding Contribution to the
Success of Fieldays.
If you would like to contact
the team at the Exhibitor with
feedback, story suggestions or to
discuss sponsorship opportunities,
please email georgie.gaddum@
wintec.ac.nz
Contributors
EDITOR’S BENCH
Charles Riddle
Venetia Sherson
Jeremy Smith
Stefanie Young
Geoff Ridder
Georgie Gaddum
Special thanks to Pranesh Lal
JOURNALISTS
Katherine Austin; Jacqui Barry;
Sonia Beal; Heather Chappell;
Jaimee Conn; Karina Cooper;
Laura Drummond; Stephanie
Fawcett; Kerrie Felton; Kelsey
Fletcher; Marika Fricker;
Amanda Harper; Mitch Hyde;
Paul Kendon; Ji-Soo Kim;Austin
King; Laura McLeay; Sam
McPherson; Kahu Miller; Stacey
Oliver; Ceana Priest; Iris Riddell;
Tony Stevens; Xing Yi Tan and
Jess Thorne-George.
DESIGNERS
Kirsty Broatch, Monica Shortt,
Laurel Ellis and Amy Bruce.
Kiwi ideas
have always
been bright
Guest editorial by Clive Dalton
I
nnovation has been the
foundation of New Zealand
farming and the making of our
nation. It must continue, and it
will if the constant stream of new
Kiwi ideas is allowed to flow
freely.
The history of New Zealand
agriculture is bristling with
innovation, with much of
it ending up benefiting the
rest of the world. Aerial top
dressing, the electric fence,
the herringbone milking shed,
Artificial Insemination (AI) all
come quickly to mind.
Two things drove innovation
in New Zealand. Any bit of
gear which came from overseas
couldn’t be sent back for fixing,
and there was no money to spend
on repairs anyway. It had to be
fixed on the farm, and the broken
bit was not only repaired, it was
also improved, probably with a
bit of No 8 wire.
This was certainly the basis of
the innovation out of Ruakura
after Dr C.P.McMeekan arrived
in 1940 to fix Facial Eczema. It
took 30 years, but scientists got
there in the end with help of a lot
of public money.
It was well spent, and couldn’t
happen in today’s commercial
and political climate.
The milking machine is another
Sponsors
We would like to thank our
sponsors, Gallagher Group
and Print House Ltd, for their
valuable support.
Clive Dalton
classic example. It soon occurred
to Ruakura scientists, Watty
Whittlestone and Doug Phillips
in the 1950s that we didn’t really
know how a milking machine
worked. ‘Mechanical milkers’
had been around since the
early 1900s and a famous early
model was made in Hood Street
in Hamilton. Watty and Doug
sorted all that out and Kiwi cows
were the beneficiaries.
The result was the famous
‘Ruakura
Milker’
which
revolutionised milking both in
New Zealand and around the
world.
Watty’s work also benefited
human kind. For a sharemilker’s
baby with a cleft palate who
couldn’t suck, Watty developed
the human milk expresser.
Today’s device, in its neat little
sexy bag, bears little relation to
Watty’s original cabinet that used
the farm vacuum pump. What
incredible innovation.
Veteran researcher Dr Pat
Shannon is the first to admit
that many of his breakthroughs
in the early Dairy Board’s work
on semen dilution were due to
‘serendipity’ – the unexpected
finding when looking for
something else.
There needs to be more of this
and there will be, if we create
the right environment. We need
more science in schools and
communication skills to go with
it. But the sad thing is that it has
never been harder to get new
ideas from the back shed into
practice. The science world has
changed, and not for the better.
Accountants and lawyers who
have a big influence in modern
research approvals seem to want
to kill innovation because they
hate risk.
Risk
drives
innovation!
Most research these days has a
commercial hand somewhere
on the tiller, and this constipates
innovation through the drive to
guard Intellectual Property (IP).
Finding scientists who will share
ideas freely these days is like
hunting Moose in Westland.
But I live in hope, as the
human brain is programmed to
surmount obstacles. It’s how we
have survived in the past and
will do in future. Innovation
must be revered and supported
at all levels in New Zealand for
our future survival.
Dr Dalton is a former agricultural
scientist and Wintec tutor, and is now
technical editor of www.lifestyleblock.
co.nz. He can be contacted at [email protected] His personal blog is
<woolshed1.blogspot.com>
Great Indoors
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Dion Mellow; Chelsea De La
Rue; Christal Yardley; Claudia
Aalderink; Erica Sinclair; Erin
Strong; Heather Meyrick;
Kimberly Wright; Kristy Norton;
Nick Reed; Shaz Arlidge
Stephanie Walker and Ulrike
Schaefer.
Photo: Dion Millow
As always, the final day of setup for the Fieldays was a time
of hectic rushing, with 1000
last-minute little, vital things
to be done to ensure that when
Wednesday dawned, all would
be in place and ready.
There’s always an air of
intense anticipation in that
first hour or so of the opening
after all the frantic preparation,
with all eyes snatching regular
glances at the growing numbers
of silhouetted people standing
waiting to be first in at the top
gate.
For newcomers to the
massive event, there is a sense
of awe as they crest the hilltop
above the grounds and get
that first view of the enormous
area that is smothered in tents,
temporary buildings and
teaming people.
By Kingsley Field
That first day especially,
usually reckoned to be almost
exclusively farmers’ day, is
always a pleasure to be part of
– the thousands of men, women
and children who make up the
crowd are largely practical,
pragmatic folk, not in a hurry
to spend just yet but happy
to wander around, chat about
new equipment and possible
purchases, see what there is
to see and then make careful
decisions about what they do
and don’t need.
They enjoy talking about
things important to them –
the weather, grass growth,
condition of stock, prices of
supplementary feed, bigger or
better or different machinery,
new or improved tools,
clothing, footwear, and practical
gadgets such as torches,
knives, portable pumps, small
generators or wire strainers.
These are the people who are
the foundation of the nation’s
rural communities – its farmers,
its builders, agricultural
contractors, stock agents,
truckies, heavy machinery
operators. There’s the older
generation of them all too,
some now hobbling slowly
on walking sticks, others still
standing straight, flinty-eyed,
hard as nails and with an
everlasting interest in what’s
good and what’s rubbish. The
clothing, the footwear, the hats
and the conversation these
people bring with them are
always a delight to observe –
and it is all so totally Fieldays.
You’ve just got to be here to
understand how good it can be.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Fieldays Exhibitor
3
Morrinsville wins best little town
By Laura McLeay
N
ot all of the action at Fieldays
takes place at Mystery Creek
– in fact, one of the most fiercely
contested competitions battled it
out in seven small towns around
the Waikato.
The Fieldays BIG Little Town
Festival sees shop owners turn
their attention to their window
dressing skills in an effort to kit
out their shop windows with a
themed display that they feel best
reflects the Fieldays.
This year’s winner, Morrinsville,
took out the overall Community
Festival Trophy because of its
“sheer zest” says one of the
competition judges and Fieldays
chairman, Warwick Roberts, who
was blown away with standard.
“It is exciting to think that
the participants had put so
much thought and effort into
it. I encourage anyone visiting
the towns to have a look.”
Fieldays’
organisers
came
up with the BIG Little Town
Festival as a way to involve the
surrounding towns and get them
in on the Fieldays hype.
Since 2008 when the small town
competitions began, the towns
have had the opportunity to get
behind the Fieldays through
parades, school art installations
and, most popular, the window
dressing competition.
This year seven towns entered the
Festival: Otorohanga, Cambridge,
Tirau, Tokoroa, Putaruru, Morrinsville,
and Matamata.
Retailers competed for cash
prizes in each town and the
overall honorary Fieldays Big
Little Town Community Festival
Trophy.
Competitor Phyllis Pethybridge
is one of those who embraced
the festival. Window displays
are her specialty and this year
was no different. She often
dresses the front window at
the St Vincent de Paul shop in
Tokoroa, with creativity and flare.
Last year her theme was old
implements, this year it included
forestry elements.
In 2009,hercreativewindowfilled
with old cooking pots, old lanterns,
old boots, old farm implements,
wool and hay won her the first
prize of $500 in the Tokoroa district.
“I do the window displays by
myself and think up all the ideas.
For the Fieldays I generally start
thinking about my design about
three weeks prior to judging day
so I can decide what I want and
then go and get it all. It only takes
a day to actually put together.”
This year the window displays
were judged by each town’s Mayor,
a local celebrity, and Fieldays
chairman
Warwick
Roberts.
Judges decisions were based on the
creativity and originality aspect of
each window display.
Each store was given a list of
items that had to be included
which were gumboots, cattle
prods, hay, new or old farm
implements, model farm animal,
and something portraying the
Fieldays theme.
This year’s winners:
Cambridge
1.
2.
3.
Ooby Ryn
Wrights Book Shop
Pet Shop
1.
2.
3.
RD1
The Story Teller
Phil’s Motorcycle Centre
1.
2.
3.
Xquisite Print and design
Paper Plus Morrinsville
Fitness Furnishings
1.
2.
3.
Kiwiana Gifts
3g Teak
Dollar & Sense
1.
2.
3.
Waikato River Trails
Heslop Pharmacy
Putaruru Florist
1.
2.
3.
Merchant of Tirau
La Tresor Bear
The Loose Goose
1.
2. 3. South Waikato Libraries
SWSPCA Variety Store
Saint Vincent de Paul
Matamata
Morrinsville
Otorohanga
Putaruru
Tirau
Tokoroa
Roller in
aid of a
good cause
Photo: Dion Millow
By Kelsey Fletcher
A
shburton business, Hubbard’s
Cultivation, sold their first
Cambridge Roller at Fieldays –
days before the event even began.
After seeing pink roller advertising
and the real thing lodged in a
dealer’s yard, the buyer viewed
the pink beauty on site at Fieldays
while the site was being set up and
gave the thumbs-up.
Hubbard’s Cultivation travelled
more than 1000km to attend
Fieldays to try and reach their goal
of selling 20 Cambridge rollersmachines which are designed to
roll down soil after cultivation.
Hubbard’s cultivation director
Ian Prime said they had sold nine
rollers since spring and he hopes
to sell another 11 by the end of
Fieldays.
“We would like to raise
$20,000 for the Breast Cancer
Foundation.” So far, Hubbard’s
Cultivation has raised $9000. The
idea to create the pink rollers and
donate $1000 to the NZBCF came
after the two owners, Ian Prime
and Vince Rietveld each had
cancer take the life of someone
very close to them. “My mother
Pretty in Pink: Hubbard’s Cultivation Director Ian Prime hopes to donate $ 20,000 to Breast Cancer Foundation
died from lung cancer eight years
ago and Vince’s mother died
from breast cancer about seven
years ago,” Mr Prime said.
The New Zealand Breast
Cancer Foundation’s Executive
Trustee, Heather Shotter is very
happy with the exposure that
this campaign has generated for
NZBCF. “Fieldays is at the heart
of the farming community
and rural women are an atrisk group for breast cancer
education messages.
By purchasing a Hubbard’s
Roller, farmers will be helping
us to reach women in rural
locations with breast cancer
advice and support that could
save their lives.”
4
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Fieldays Exhibitor
‘Clever twist’ on wire wins
By Kelsey Fletcher
PHOTO: Dion Mellow
P
ukekohe artist Murray Swan
walked away from the 2010
Fieldays No.8 Wire National
Art Award $4000 richer after he
took out first place with his entry
Wood ’n Post.
The announcement came at
the awards ceremony held at the
Artspost Galleries and Shop in
Hamilton.
Interviewed some days after
the event, Mr Swan said he
was still buzzing the following
weekend from the occasion.
“I think overwhelmed is the
only word that described the
feeling,” he said.
Judge Karl Chitham said Wood
’n Post demonstrated a “clever
twist” on the medium.
“The winning work demonstrates a real engagement with
the physical and conceptual
possibilities of the iconic No.8 wire
and it shows a clever twist on the
use and reading of the medium.”
The work transposes the
usual roles of the materials in
fencing and the post is made
from No.8 wire, while all the
usual metal attachments
WINNING ENTRY: Murray Swan’s Wood ‘n Post
(staples, nails, barbed wire) are
made from natural fibres.
Mr Swan said he had been
working on Wood ’n Post since
March 2010 and had finished
in June.
“It probably took about
60 to 80 hours to make it, but it
needed 45 years of practice. He
said the wire was a hard medium
to sculpt. “It was difficult
deciding what to make, why to
make it and how to do it.”
Mr Swan said he encountered
many difficulties weeding out the
ideas and designs, straightening
the wire and making the wood,
barbed wire, and staples.
However, it’s not stopped him
from starting his design for the
2011 award.
Napier’s William Jameson
placed second for Wireless
Connection and received $1500
in prize money. Third place
was shared by Wellington’s
Rose Petterson for Tree of
Knowledge
and
Hastings’
Philippus Meier for Ball of
Wire, with each receiving $500
in prize money.
Mr Chitham said all the
finalists’ entries showed a sense of
humour and a “real kiwi-ness”.
The annual award, which
has become renowned for the
ingenious and unique entries it
attracts, was launched in 1997
and challenges artists to create
a sculpture from No.8 wire. It’s
co-ordinated by the Waikato
Museum, held at ArtsPost, and
is sponsored by the National
Agricultural Fieldays.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Fieldays Exhibitor
5
PHOTOS: Dion Mellow
Weird
wild and
whacky
wire...
WIRE ON SHOW: Some of the No.8 Wire Sculptures on show at the ArtsPost in Hamilton.
Pictured bottom right, Murray Swan: Winner of the National Art Award
6
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Fieldays Exhibitor
New chairman is an old hand
By Kelsey Fletcher
G
et your cattle prodders out to
halt the herds, the Fieldays
Committee has elected a new
chairman.
Fieldays advocate and longtime enthusiast, Warwick Roberts,
68, has taken up the challenge
of leading the committee of the
biggest agricultural event in the
southern Hemisphere.
Born in the Waikato, Roberts has
spent most of his life farming in
Cambridge, where he still resides.
“I live on a four-acre farm
which used to be my 320-acre
dairy farm. I sold it a while back
but loved the land too much,
so I kept the four acres and my
house,” he said.
Along with his house, Roberts
also kept two steers which he
keeps as pets, along with cat Zeus.
“I named my two steers
Horned Beef and Sir Loin. I
reckoned that if Sir Patrick
Hogan could have Sir Tristram, I
could have Sir Loin.”
Roberts lives the quiet life
now, compared to former times
when he was running 440 cows
through his dairy farm with his
wife Jillian, who passed away at
the beginning of last year, and his
children.
“I’ve got three children – a son
and two daughters. Two of them
are married now and I have five
grandchildren.”
Roberts said Fieldays had always been a fond time for him
and his family and his involvement stretches back to when he
was in the Young Farmers Club
in his mid-twenties.
He recalled his early involvement with affection but said employment as a dairy company
director had put the Young Farmers’ Club and his associations
with Fieldays on the back burner.
However,
the
friendship,
excitement and fun of Fieldays
drew Roberts back in 2001 after
he sold his dairy farm.
“I volunteered to do anything!
My father had been helping a
number of years before he died,
and when he passed away I
thought I’d better take over and
carry on what he’d done.”
Throughout his life, Roberts
has been involved in various
committees and organisations.
He was a member of the Louis
Vuitton Cup Committee in 2003
and 2009 and commodore of
a yacht club in his spare time.
Alongside his new position,
he’s currently on the Board of
Freemasons for NZ, he serves
on his local hall committee
(Monavale), and he enjoys fishing.
Roberts said his new job
involves helping to keep Fieldays
on track by managing the people
involved.
“I make sure all the committees
do what they need to do. I probably
just got pushed into it because
no one else wanted to do it,” he
said laughing. “I’m very happy
with the job though, it’s always a
challenge.”
Although
paperwork
does play
a part in
Roberts’
new job,
he finds the role has a creative side.
“I talk to people, sort problems
and do promotions, but I do get
to come up with the bright ideas
for improving the organisation.
We want to keep improving the
event. Making it better, more
economical and more exciting for
people to come to.”
Roberts said he was looking
at improving roads, access and
parking so Fieldays will be a
more pleasurable experience for
those who come.
“We are slightly restricted by
the lack of land around us for
expansion and it’s probable that
we will improve the quality (of
Fieldays) rather than the quantity.
If we go more than 130,000
people, we need to change the
whole infrastructure in terms
that people don’t want to park
a long way away, then walk a
long way in.”
He said there was a good
system working when
people parked at the
airport and bussed
down to the site,
but this year
Fieldays has put
another system
in place which
Roberts
hopes
will work well.
“We are offering a blue
pass for executive-style
people who want to pay
a bit extra and get parked
onsite. People like the
company CEOs who arrive
at 10am and get stuck in the
massive queues don’t want
to be late, so this service is
targeted at them. No way
do they want to be way out
there in the queues!”
Roberts said he wants to
see a few more new buildings
at Mystery Creek while he’s
in charge.
“We have some excellent
infrastructures, and we need
a new office which is being
worked on at the moment.
I’m looking at improving road
signage for businesses.”
Although Roberts is quite official about his plans, it is obvious he has a passion for Fieldays
and the people involved with it.
“I want to make Fieldays a
bigger, brighter and better show.
I guess you could say you’re a
steward for those who have
been before. It’s a matter
WARWICK ROBERTS:
Gave away the quiet life for Fieldays
PHOTO: Supplied
of making sure it carries on and it’s
a lot of work. There are hundreds
and thousands of volunteers
that make this place hum. It’s a
real family with the volunteers,
everyone knows everyone. People
would say it’s only four days of the
year, how can you stick together,
but you do spend a lot of time
together,” he said.
Roberts believes in new ways
of making money and said the
theme ‘Innovation for Future
Profit’ is based around the
economy and had been in the
works since 2009.
“There was a lot of concern
for the economy and the fact that
maybe we could farm our way
out by doing things smarter and
brighter.”
He said there were a lot of
different things this year to
appeal to the different audiences.
Mystery Creek is about 120 ha
of land and is an $80-$100 million
asset to Fieldays.
However, as Fieldays falls in
June, the land does not seem like
too much of an asset, with the
mud creating some problems.
Roberts has an idea to try
avoid the muddy problem.
“I would like to move Fieldays
back one month because of the
weather. It’s been in mid-June
because of a tradition where
it followed Ruakura Farmers’
Week,” he said.
“I would like to move
Fieldays back one
month because of the
weather”
Roberts thinks Fieldays has
advanced from its early days in
1969 when he helped out as a
young man.
“Fieldays has certainly progressed. It started out at Te Rapa
racecourse, until it purchased its
own property (Mystery Creek)
and then it developed from there.
“I remember when there was
a bomb scare at Mystery Creek
during Fieldays once. We’d
been told to keep our eyes out
for things and one of the guys
said he’d seen something on a
fencepost. After an inspection
we’d determined it to be a square
container that had been there for
two days. Eventually the bomb
squad flew down from Auckland
and blew the container up.
Anyway, it turned out to be some
guy’s lunch he’d left out there.”
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Fieldays Exhibitor
He’s a country bloke at heart
PHOTO: Dion Mellow
7
Police want
your number
By Amanda Harper
P
DAVID HENSHAW: Entertaining the farming industry for more than 40 years
By Tony Stevens
e’s written a book of “bloody
good yarns” – most of them
true, some bulldust. And a coffee
shop is definitely not David
Henshaw’s preferred setting.
His oilskin jacket, crusty work
boots and gruff bearing give that
away immediately. If he had
his way we would probably be
conducting afternoon tea in an
East Coast shearing shed rather
than a Victoria Street café.
“I’m a country bloke. I can’t
stand those city-slickers up in
Auckland. Drive me bloody
crazy,” Henshaw barks.
Though, that said, he is partial
to a city-slicking flat white coffee
H
from Butterfingers Café on
Victoria Street.
Henshaw is launching his new
book Cowpats and Brickbats:
Tales from the Waikato here at
Fieldays, the follow-up to his
immensely popular Whitebait
and Wetlands: Tales of the West
Coast. The veteran farm boy can
be found at the David Bateman
stand by the front gate at 11am
and 2pm each day.
Henshaw doesn’t live on a
farm anymore. He is strategically
placed
in
Tamahere,
half
way between the bustle of
Hamilton and the pastures of
the Waikato countryside. Instead
of hammering fence posts into
the ground he expresses his
love of rural New Zealand
with a talented drawing hand,
communicating farm life through
his famous sketches of “Jock the
farmer” and his country living.
Cowpats and Brickbats is a
collection of 40 yarns written
by Henshaw and fellow farmer
Graham McBride, and illustrated
with some of Henshaw’s best
sketches, cartoons, and paintings.
“Most of the stories are true,
some are bulls*^t. But they are
all bloody good yarns, with some
good, honest people. The folks
are hard case, hard bitten, rude as
…, but good value.
“The recipe for the book is
people. It’s always about the
people.”
A message from the Fieldays team
W
elcome to the 42nd New
Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays, the largest agribusiness event in the Southern
Hemisphere, shaping the rural
sector for the year ahead.
This massive exhibition is the
definitive link to the industry as it
is the one place where agricultural
devotees can buy, sell, network
and launch innovative ideas.
Fieldays acts as the window to
farming, providing a transparent
view of the industry.
The Premier Feature for 2010,
‘Innovation for Future Profit’
highlights the significance of
future growth in the New
Zealand agricultural economy.
The theme recognises farmers as
innovative business people who
are looking for new approaches
to achieve long term growth. The
sponsors of the Premier Feature
for 2010 are Dairy Automation
Limited (DAL) and Outgro
Bio-Agricultural Limited, both
industry leaders in innovation
for a profitable future.
2010 will be my fourth year
with the Fieldays team and
my first as Fieldays Exhibitor
Liaison. I am very excited about
the business-to-business focus
of this year’s Fieldays as it is
sure to have a positive impact on
your presence at Fieldays. I look
forward to meeting you and to
putting faces to the names. Thank
you for all your hard work and
cooperation during the build up
to Fieldays and I wish you all a
very successful event.
Caz Wood
Exhibitor Liaison,
New Zealand National Agricultural
Fieldays
olice want to reduce theft of
expensive farming equipment
by focusing on the importance of
recording serial numbers at this
year’s Fieldays.
The Serial Number Action
Project (Operation Snap) is a
community initiative designed
to reduce theft and burglary
which involves making a record
of serial numbers either by
recording them at home or using
the website www.snap.org.nz.
Waikato police communication’s manager Andrew McAlley says police sometimes may
struggle to return stolen goods
to victims of theft. “Police will
try and investigate a serious burglary, but more often than not if
they can’t prove the stolen items
are the victim’s then they go back
to the offender. (The) easiest way
to us to prove if an item is stolen
is to record your serial number.”
Operation Snap is designed
for everyone to use, not just
rural people and police will have
a visual demonstration at this
year’s Fieldays of how to use the
website
Fieldays is an opportunity for
police to reach out to the rural
community as well as maintain
order.
“At the end of the day, tens
of thousands of people are
coming, you’ve got a mix of
town and country. It’s one of
the few places where we can get
concise messages out to the rural
community in one spot.”
Each year the police typically
deal with a mix of missing
persons; lost and found property;
and minor crimes.
Police work closely with fire
and ambulance, Sergeant Paul
Francis said. “It’s basically a
small town, people (can) become
unwell. We’ve had people who
have had heart attacks in the
past. An ambulance needs to get
to those people or get them out of
there and police will provide an
escort to clear the roads.”
The team at the Fieldays will
also focus on demonstrations
on firearms safety and correct
firearm licensing. As well, they
will work with a team from
the Northern Communications
centre to demonstrate what
happens when a 111 call is made.
The police community tent is
located on D52A.
8
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Fieldays Exhibitor
Women keen to show skills
By Samantha McPherson
PHOTO: Supplied
T
his year one of the Fieldays’
iconic events – the Rural
Bachelor of the Year – has an
added twist.
Organisers have spiced up the
contest with the Rural Good Keen
Girls competition and now the
search is on for New Zealand’s
first rural bachelorette.
Women who can put up a
fence, muster cattle and drive
a tractor are in to impress the
judges come Friday, says event
coordinator Jacqui Cooper.
The ultimate Rural Good Keen
Girl is not only equipped with
farming skills but is someone
who does not mind getting
their hands dirty. “They have
a positive outlook on life and
display the typical kiwi can-do
attitude, but on the other hand
they enjoy being feminine and
going out with the girls,” Cooper
says.
Following the success of a
ladies afternoon in 2009, the Rural
Good Keen Girl competition is
being introduced to run alongside
the Rural Bachelor competition,
now in its eighth year.
This year the bachelors will
compete for more than $20,000
worth of prizes, the legendary
Golden Gumboot, and the glory
of being New Zealand’s Rural
Bachelor of the Year for 2010.
Jacqui believes that women are
the backbone when it comes to
farming and the purpose of this
competition is to celebrate the
essential role they play within
our agricultural industry.
“We have decided to run this
one-day competition because
women in the rural industry need
more recognition. These women
work hard on the farm and
undertake difficult jobs. To me,
Jaimee Schimanski
historically women have always
been the backbone. Modern rural
women have branched out and
now work across all sectors of
our agricultural industry.”
Passionate farmer and entrant
Anna Hogg, 20, is a 2IC who milks
640 cows on a 237 hectare family
farm in Otorohanga with her
10-month-old Border collie, Jack.
Anna says the competition
could open a new door that is
potentially both challenging and
romantic as it is harder meeting
men when you live on a farm.
“The city was so much easier
to meet men as you lived close by
rather than Otorohanga which is
approximately an hour’s-drive
and, let’s face it, that’s a fair
distance to travel to go out for a
coffee. Otorohanga is a small town
and I know most of the people
here, which is why it makes it
hard to find new people. I have
been single for so long now so I
am open to any new competition
that may be beneficial later on
down the track.”
Rochelle OHara
The name of the competition
can be credited to a Barry Crump
book called Good Keen Girl.
“This story put into perspective
our expectation of a farm girl.
Someone who can turn her hand
to anything, is capable and will
just get in there and do it,” says
Jacqui.
She says the Rural Good Keen
Girl competition has been a
natural progression as the idea
was sparked after the success of
last year’s ladies afternoon.
Competition details are not
revealed until the day.
Anna believes that men and
women are equal when it comes
to working on a farm.
“We can do the same if not more
than them. If you put your mind
to it you can do anything. It’s not
like farming is just for males, my
grandma used to shear sheep
right beside her brothers years
ago and she is now 85 years old.
If you have the right skills and the
right mind set you can go as high
as you want within the industry.”
All women in the competition
have to work in different sectors
of the agricultural industry.
Waikato competitor, Emma
Fletcher, 30, is an Ultra Sound
Technician who is mad about
motor racing and it made her
weekend when she found out
she had been accepted as a
competitor.
“I entered this competition to
meet new people, to have fun,
to challenge myself and to learn
new skills. I was stoked when
I found out I was a competitor.
I still don’t know what we are
doing but I will do whatever I
have to, as that is the challenge.
Bring it on.”
Thousands of dollars are up for
grabs for the winner of the Rural
Good Keen Girl competition,
including a seven-day holiday
in Rarotonga, clothing from
Swanndri and a $1500 package
from Stihl.
Rural Good Keen Girl
competition runs at various
sites around Fieldays on
Friday.
What makes a Rural Good
Keen Girl?
• Gumboots not high heels
• Swanndris not cashmere
•
•
•
•
•
sweaters
Jeans not short skirts
A ute not a sports car
A hammer not nail varnish
A log splitter not a heat
pump remote
A chainsaw not a credit card