'Stuff up' means he's a winner no more

Hamish Buchanan has been allowed to keep the prize money from the contest.

Dannevirke sheep and beef farmer Hamish Buchanan says he has just "got to suck it up", after losing the Glammies title through no fault of his own.

Buchanan was named as the country's top lamb producer in Wanaka just a couple of weeks ago for producing the most tender and tasty lamb in Beef+Lamb's prestigious golden lamb (Glammies) competition.

But late last week organisers declared it a no-contest after a mistake was made in the process used to calculate the top 20 contestants.

"I've just got to go on doing what I do, but I must admit it was a bit of a bad day on the farm when I was rung with the news," he said.

"When I won I felt like I'd really achieved something, but now based on flawed data, that sense of achievement has been taken out from under me."

Mr Buchanan said he received a phone call from Rod Slater, the chief executive of Beef+Lamb, late last week telling him an error had been made in the data.

"We discussed the prize money and they (competition organisers) have allowed me to keep it," he said.

"You could say it's hush money because this is quite a major stuff up.

"However, I feel Rod did give me a very sincere and heartfelt apology."

And Mr Buchanan said he's very happy with his stock and the lamb he produces.

"It's great tasting and in farming you've just got to get out and keep on doing it," he said.

Mr Slater said the 2015 Glammies competition has been declared a no-contest because an error was made with the final spreadsheet when the testing facility calculated the final score and applied the ranking.

"In error, their information technology person used the formula for shear force - where low is good, high is bad - and applied it to yield," he said.

"A no-contest decision is the best and most fair outcome for all involved."

While the actual scientific analysis of the meat quality for all entrants individual results were correct, it was the calculation for the final scoring where the error was made.

The contest will not be re-run this year and Mr Buchanan said he's still undecided whether he'll enter again. "To be honest, as the winner, I wasn't likely to enter again, but now, there's a part of me that wants to enter again," he said. "I'll have to digest it over the winter."