NZ Agricultural Show a test run for biosecurity protocols

Rangiora High School cattle show team member Zoe Loffhagen (17) checks up on yearling heifer Woolstone Park Daisy. Photo: David Hill

New biosecurity protocols got the first test run at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch recently.

While other cattle shows around Canterbury had been cancelled this year in the wake of the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak, the Canterbury A&P Association developed new protocols with the Ministry for Primary Industries and went ahead with its cattle section at last week's show.

Rangiora High School cattle show team member Zoe Loffhagen said while there were fewer cattle entered, the new protocols seemed to work well.

''We've got a specific way we've got to move around all the grounds and specific entry and exit from the sheds, a 2m boundary between each breed of cattle, different wash bays with different times, different areas and different rules to follow.

''It's very strict, but it's really good because it means no-one can pass on the disease.''

Zoe said there were 15 Rangiora High School team members at the show, including two primary school pupils and two former pupils, who had the job of looking after Phil and Kay Worthington's Woolstone Park Lowline cattle from Fernside, near Rangiora.

''There's lots of different competitions between us and other breeds. There's one for the team which keeps the cleanest area and we want to win that trophy so badly.

''There's everything, not just the best animal, but anything you can imagine.''

She said the team had been preparing since August, learning how to lead and look after the cattle.

The team won the Emerald Hill Cup for the best-kept stalls, but was beaten in the high school cattle-handling teams competition, with Rangiora teams of three finishing second, third and fourth behind Lincoln High School.

The North Canterbury combined team, which included members of the Rangiora team, won the primary schools cattle-handling teams competition.

Team member Rana Kumeroa (18) won a Lady Diana Isaac Scholarship in the senior herdsperson competition to attend the Royal Canberra Show.

Team captain Caitlin Rhodes (16) won the intermediate herdsperson competition, but as she has won it before, the prize of a trip to the Future Beef Expo in Feilding went to Abbie Walls (14), who was runner-up.

Caitlin also won the Woolstone Park Lowline Scholarship to attend the Ekka Show in Queensland.

Oxford's Marshall Stokes won the junior herdsperson competition, making it a clean sweep for North Canterbury.

-By David Hill