Gisborne farming cadet Bradley Anderson wins fencing competition at Fieldays

Gisborne's Bradley Anderson (right) and teammate Cameron Chambers, of Taranaki, both junior cadets at Smedley, won the rural cadets Silver Staples fencing competition at Fieldays.

Gisborne 17-year-old Bradley Anderson and his teammate won the 2024 Silver Staples rural cadets NZ Fencing Competition at Mystery Creek on Wednesday.

The specifications were clear — one 30m by 1175mm-high three-wire fence with two breast block strainers, six posts, one footed, wires at set spacings, all connected and parallel, using joining clamps, insulated permanent strainers, cut-out switches, bungy gates and tensioned to 100kg of force.

Bradley and his teammate, Cameron Chambers, of Taranaki, are junior cadets at the Smedley Cadet Training Farm in Central Hawke’s Bay.

Bradley was born and raised in Gisborne and decided at the age of 12 he wanted to become a farmer.

“Farming is a jack-of-all-trades job where you need to know a lot about everything from fencing, to animal health, breaking in a horse and breaking in working dogs, pasture management, agribusiness, soil science, feed budgeting, dagging, shearing, crutching, mustering, drenching and so on,” he said.

In his interview on Rural Exchange, Bradley made special thanks to Simon Green, the Smedley Station fencing manager, for his work in preparing the boys well for competition — and to all who helped him before getting into Smedley.