30,287 copies distributed monthly – to every rural mailbox in Canterbury and the West Coast
July 2020 Edition
INSIDE
THIS EDITION Farm machinery
p14 Winter lifestyle Future farmers: FMG Junior young Farmer of the year Winners Jack Coakley and Mac Williams attend Christchurch’s St Bede’s College.
p22 Animal health
Canterbury duo win Junior Young Farmer of the Year title A Canterbury pair has out skilled 13 other teams to take out the title of 2020 FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year.
p32 Calving
p40
❚ by Kent Caddick Jack Coakley and Mac Williams from St Bede’s College were crowned the winners after a week’s worth of challenges. “It was an incredible result, we put a lot of hard work in this week so to come out with the result we got was an incredible feeling,” Coakley said. The pair entered Friday morning in fifth place and Williams said they tried their hardest throughout the day. “It’s really rewarding to be able to compare your skills to others around the country, and prove to yourself what you can do when you put your mind to it and take your passion to the next level,” Williams said. Three South Island FMG Junior Young
Farmer of the Year Regional Finals, and the Grand Final, were all forced to either be cancelled or moved online when Government restrictions around events started coming into place in March. New Zealand Young Farmers CEO Lynda Coppersmith said the quick decision was made, to move everything online and deliver a contest for Teen Ag members, alongside the AgriKids contest for primary school children. Williams was born and raised on the West Coast where his parents run a cattle finishing farm near Jacksons, while Coakley is from West Melton and has a background in poultry farming. The pair said they thought the hardest part of the week was the preparation and time management. “We put so much work into it to try and
make sure we got top marks for everything that was the hardest part about it; the work we had to put in,” Coakley said. “I thought online was actually a really cool way of doing it, it was super smoothly run so we didn’t have any difficulties with any technological issues and it was different to how it was run in previous years which made it really exciting and new.” After finishing school, Williams plans to head to Massey University to study veterinary, while Coakley wants to attend Lincoln University and is currently tossing up what agricultural based degree to study. Meanwhile, the ‘West Otago Rams’, made up by Charlie Ottrey (12), Dylan Young (12) and Riley Hill (13), from Blue Mountain College took out the 2020 AgriKids title.