Skill to keep on straight and narrow

HOLD THE LINE: Gavin Jones leads Cody Sage and Dave Greig in last year's Wairarapa Ploughing Championships.

Who knew ploughing could be so complex?

Depth, straightness, tidiness and grass content will all come under strict scrutiny during the Wairarapa Ploughing Championships on October 6 at Gladstone.

Wairarapa Ploughing Association committee members Bob and Mavis Jones, from Masterton, are hoping for about 25 entrants capable of holding a straight line.

The event follows a Manawatu competition and is a qualifier for the New Zealand championships. Competitors will use pre-1956 tractors and ploughs from 1900 to the 1950s.

Mrs Jones said judges use a point system, looking first at the "main split" before judging a whole section.

Straightness is key, but the rows should have no random grass falling in, said Mr Jones.

"If you bring up grass like that, points are deducted.

"And it should be as damn near as straight as this line," he said, pointing to a straight line border in the Times-Age.

When the furrows are turned over, they lay against each other, and should present a uniform height.

"If one is lower than the other, it's going to be deducted."

Judges use depth gauges, to ensure depths are between 130 and 150mm deep.

There's also a time limit.

Mrs Jones lamented there are not the younger ones coming along on their committee, who are all in their late seventies.

"We've got marquees to put up, but older people can't do that now."

"But I'm still able to plough," said Mr Jones.

Ploughed fields from the competition are finished by the farmer for cropping.