Young farmer does it again

By MERANIA KARAURIA and ANNE-MARIE EMERSON
A STAY-at-home father from Feilding is the Taranaki-Manawatu Young Farmer Of The Year - for the second year running.
David Skiffington headed off seven other young farmers - six male and one female - to win the contest in Wanganui on Saturday.
Mr Skiffington will go in to compete at the Young Farmer Of The Year grand final in Ashburton in July. He gained second place in the grand final last year, narrowly losing to Hawke's Bay's Callum Thomsen.
The eight contestants, from Feilding, Palmerston North, Levin, Bulls, Opiki and Eltham, needed a sharp combination of brawn and brains just to get through the event.
The practical challenges, held at Wanganui Racecourse, included cooking with supplied ingredients; stock handling and shearing a sheep; pumping water from one trough to another; assembly of a milking cluster; riding a horse through a gate without dismantling and picking up a stuffed animal masquerading as a lamb and slinging it over the horse shepherd-style; building a gateway, and starting up a machine and wrapping a bale in plastic.
Contestants were also given half an hour to turn a bundle of pre-used totara fence batons into a piece of furniture. In the evening, the contest moved to Wanganui Collegiate for the "brains" part of the event.
The young farmers competed in rounds of problems solving, general knowledge quizzes and public speaking.
Secretary of the organising committee, Anna Mackintosh, said early on Mr Skiffington emerged as the one to beat.
"He really was the clear leader. His work was absolutely outstanding."
Mrs Mackintosh said second place was hotly contested between Daniel Kilsby of Levin and James Christensen of Palmerston North. Mr Kilsby eventually took second place, squeaking in by a mere four points.
Mark Lambert, of Bulls, was fourth.
Mrs Mackintosh said the standard of competition was high in the region this year.
"The contestants all worked so hard. The practical challenges were especially hard - they had to go flat out for about six hours."
The regional fencing competition was won by Opiki team Jarred Clode and Jarred Barnes with Leo Caine (Opiki) and Travis Carter (Massey) second. Their brief was to build a three-wire electric fence of two strainers with a spring gate and electrify it using a cut-out switch in one and a-half hours.
In the Agrikids competition, a team from South Makirikiri school won, with Fordell second.
Mrs Mackintosh said it was pleasing to see 22 school teams taking part in the competition, with one team travelling all the way from Whangamomona in eastern Taranaki.
PICTURED: David Skiffington, Taranaki-Manawatu Young Farmer Of The Year, hard at work in a practical challenge at the Wanganui Racecourse on Saturday.