Son beats dad in national farm fencing final

Father and son Shane and Tony Bouskill after last week's Golden Pliers and Silver Spades farm fencing triumphs. Photo / Supplied

Hawke's Bay's rich legacy in the Golden Pliers national farm fencing has taken a new turn with four-times winner and defending champion Shane Bouskill losing the title on Friday — to his son.

In a true case of the student downing the master, and which seems to have settled the issue of when Smedley Station farm cadet instructor Shane Bouskill, 47, retires from competition, Tutira fencing contractor and Tony Bouskill, 28, won the title in an eight-man final at the National Agricultural Fieldays.

His father was fourth, having decided to give it one more go at the insistence of his son who reckoned that if he were to claim the title he'd want the field to include his father, who first won the title in 2013.

But his father did get at least one last visit to the winners' circle at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton, after the pair successfully defended the Silver Spades pairs title they won for the first time last year.

Tony Bouskill, who was fourth in the Bill Shuler Novice final in his first year in 2010 and made the Golden Pliers top-eight final for the first time 12 months later, says 2018 was a good year to win, for he now represents New Zealand in Germany next April at the biennial World Championships, hoping to emulate his father's win there in 2015.

Back at work yesterday, on a contract which is providing up to a year's work constructing about 40km of deer fencing on Ngatapa Station, inland from Tutira, the new champion said he's not too sure whether his father will stick to the decision to retire.

"He's quite competitive," he said. "He might want it back."

But he'd have to combat the determination of the offspring who said he was determined to win last week, and was first to finishing, taking 5hrs 20mins for the 50 metres fence-and-gate job, with 14 line posts, about 40 battens and nine wires.

It was almost an hour quicker than his father, but after seeing the job points doubting right till the official announcement that he'd done enough to claim the top prize. He thought it may have been enough to make the top three.

Making it a clean sweep for Hawke's Bay, Jared Nicholson of Havelock North took out the Bill Schuler Trophy, which is battled out between the best six competitors that didn't make the Golden Pliers singles final, while Smedley Station cadet teams took away 1st and 2nd place in the Silver Staples Trophy, a competition for younger up-and-coming fencers.

NIcholson also won Bill Schuler Trophy in 2011.

"That's it for me now you can only win the Bill Schuler Trophy twice.

"So the next step for me is up to the Golden Pliers with Shane and Tony and see if we can't make it a top three placing for Hawke's Bay next year," Nicholson said.

Meanwhile, Tony Bouskill, who reckons he went through about 12 schools, latterly around Ohakune, is looking for more fencers.

There's just himself and one other on the job at present, he could do with at least three more, and there's a shortage of farm-fencers nationwide.