Hawke’s Bay all the way in farm fencing champs at Fieldays

Brothers-in-law Bernard Condon, left, and Tony Bouskill in the Bill Schuler Trophy and Golden Pliers events at the Fieldays New Zealand Fencing Competitions' national farm fencing championships on Friday. Photo / Fieldays

Hawke’s Bay has taken a near clean sweep of the four titles at the Golden Plyers national farm fencing championships at Fieldays near Hamilton.

The Thursday-Friday championships were dominated, again, by the Bouskill family, with Tutira contractor Tony Bouskill claiming the premier Golden Pliers singles title for a fifth time, one more than father Shane.

While the pair had to be content with second place in the Silver Spades pairs, after winning it five times in a row, and Tony Bouskill’s brother-in-law, Bernard Condon, won the Bill Schuler Novice, having finished sixth last year in the event.

The Silver Staples farm training institutions pairs was won by Quinn Steed and Renee Garrett, of Pukemiro, near Dannevirke, with Smedley pair Bugs Butler and Hamish Grigg second, and second Pukemiro pair Ryan Craw and Zach Hall in third place.

The Pukemiro Station team of Quinn Steed and Renee Garrett after winning the Silver Staples farm fencing pairs, for teams from farm training institutions. Photo / Supplied

With the Silver Spades pairs won by Mark Lambert of Bulls and Jeff Joines, of Kapiti, the Hawke’s Bay results fell just one placing short of the clean sweep achieved in 2018, when Tony Bouskill won the Golden Pliers for the first time, he and his father won the Silver Spades, Jared Nicholson, of Havelock had Hawke’s Bay’s first and only win in the Bill Schuler Trophy, and a Smedley team won the Silver Staples.

Shane Bouskill was fifth in the Golden Pliers top-eight final on Friday, and Nicholson was seventh, while Bernard Condon and Nicholson were fifth in the Silver Spades.

Hawke’s Bay has dominated the Golden Pliers over with 22 wins over the last three decades, the Bouskill wins following the 12 victories from 1990 to 2012 by Southern Hawke’s Bay farm fencing legend Paul van Beers, who also won the World title twice.

Tony Bouskill, of Tutira, gets his name on the Golden Pliers trophy for a fifth time - once more than father Shane. Photo / Fieldays

Tony Bouskill, now 33, is now expected to go to Germany next year to defend the World title he won in 2019.

This year none have gone short of practice amid the huge pressure on the farm fencing industry in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. His home is up Waikoau Rd, about 20 minutes from State Highway 2.

It was the second major success for the stricken Tutira area in national rural sports in little over a fortnight, with farmer Clark Chrystal and dog Jude having won a South Island and New Zealand Sheep Dog Trials Championships zig zag double in South Otago at the end of last month, after being confined to his farm for six weeks after the February 13-14 calamity.

Some of the pressure on the industry since the storm has been relieved by crews brought into the area by the Fencing Contractors Association, but Bouskill said he’d be working 24/7 if he physically could, saying “there’s heaps of work” replacing and repairing fencing.

But he has to prioritise and also make sure the clients all get a fair share, and he has to ensure he still gets the family time with Johnella and children Keira-Lee, 13, Jack, 9, and Katana, 7, among whom is another generation looming down the fence line.

“Jack,” he says, “is already pretty handy with the hammer.”