East Otago ploughing match a prelude to New Zealand championships

“The straighter you plough, the easier it’s going to be.”

That is the advice Sean Leslie has for young players ahead of the New Zealand Ploughing Championships near Milton this week.

“As long as you keep it straight, the rest of it’ll come - and you never stop learning,” Leslie said.

“You’re always continuously learning and every paddock is different.

“Every plot you plough at a competition is different from the plot you ploughed before - the soil condition, the humps and the hollows.

“You’re adjusting yourself and the plough to suit the soil type and the ground available.”

Leslie and his ploughing partner Casey Tilson, both of Middlemarch, took to the soil at the East Otago ploughing match behind their Clydesdale team at a Palmerston farm yesterday.

Competitors from around the country took part in the ploughing event as a prelude to the national champs which start near Milton on Friday.

Horse-drawn ploughs, vintage, conventional and reversible ploughs were all competing at East Otago ahead of the national championships, Leslie said.

Entrants were given three hours, 10 minutes to plough their plot.

Judges would scrutinise the work and judge the competitors on about 10 elements.

Sean Leslie and Casey Tilson work a plough behind their Clydesdale team near Palmerston. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery

“The idea is that you plough as straight as you can, as tidy and as uniform as you can.

“And effectively prepare the seed bed the best you can, ready for sowing the seed.”

Practice for the nationals would begin tomorrow and the event would start on Friday, he said.

The New Zealand Ploughing Association said up to 23 qualifying events were hosted by individual associations throughout New Zealand each year.

The winners competed at the annual New Zealand Ploughing Championships held over two days in April or May.

Day one was the “stubble competition” and day two was the grassland competition, it said.