Hunterville's Katey Craig came third in a national young shepherd competition. Photo/Bevan Conley
Hunterville's Katey Craig came third in a national young shepherd competition. Photo/Bevan Conley
Katey Craig could be forgiven for wishing one of the males who won the two spots in September's World Young Shepherds Challenge can't make it to France. She is the back-up choice for the competition.
Eight young people competed for the places - four men and four women. Miss Craigcame third in the one-day contest at Lincoln University last Friday.
Because she's next in line she has to keep studying, in case she has to replace one of the two winners. They were 19-year-old Mitchel Hoare, from Te Kuiti, and Alex Reekers, 23, from Waimate.
The pair will be in Auvergne from September 28 to October 4 to compete against young shepherds from England, Australia, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Uruguay, Argentina and the host nation.
On the day of the challenge at Lincoln, the young New Zealand competitors had a one-hour written exam and then got into some sheep work - scoring body condition, drenching, mouthing, foot trimming, shearing and handling. There was also a test in quad bike handling, in both speed and safety.
The shearing was hard, because the sheep were part merino and had dry wool and tender skins that were easy to nick. It had to be done with a cover comb, which Miss Craig wasn't used to.
Being with the other young shepherds was fantastic, she said, because they had a lot in common.
"No one was really competitive. We all got along pretty well. We had the same things to talk about, comparing what we're up to on the farm at the moment."
This week Miss Craig was back into her job on the large Otiwhiti Station. It's in the Turakina Valley near Hunterville, where there had been snow on the surrounding hills.
"We're pretty busy. [We're holding] 500 friesian bulls over winter and break feeding, and ... we're still finishing some lambs."
