Tararua teams in AgriKids finals

Louise Brabyn of Pahiatua School works out the contents of a box, while Olivia Matson and Anna Swansson record the answer.

Tararua will be well represented in the national TeenAg and AgriKids finals at Invercargill in July.

Nearly 20 teams entered from the Tararua at the East Coast Young Farmer TeenAg and AgriKids competitions held at Masterton on Saturday February 17.

Dannevirke High School duo Kate Lund and Trudy Barrow finished second in the TeenAg competition behind Napier Boys High School and another Dannevirke High School team — Anne Barrow and Natasha Bradbury also made the final.

Erecting a fence wire was no trouble for TeenAg contestants Anne Barrow and Natasha Bradbury from Dannevirke High School.

There were 24 teams in the competition and tasks included building a single wire fence, driving a tractor, scoring a deer antler, judging sheep for condition and completing questions on TB. The final was a quick-fire farming knowledge quiz.

In the AgriKidsNZ primary school competition Jorja Fountaine, Lucy Allomes and Lily McLeod of Kumeroa-Hopelands Rocky Riders finished third out of 43 teams behind Ongaonga and Tinui.

Kate Lund and Trudy Barrow, second in the East Coast North Island TeenAg competition and qualified for the NZ Final in Invercargill.

They had to assemble a tape gate and a shearing hand-piece, identify contents of boxes (pumice, worms, horse poo, sand), place plants in a riparian setting beside a river, name animal diseases and treatments, capture bobbing apples in a barrel and answer a general agricultural quiz.

Kumeroa Agri-Kids Rocky Riders compete in the cart race-off coming third. In the cart Jorja Fountaine with, Lucy Allomes and Lily McLeod pushing.

In the Race Off final they had to put a wheel on a barrow, bridle a horse, complete a puzzle and push a cart.

Both Dannevirke High School second place-getters and Kumeroa-Hopelands Third Place Getters qualify for the national finals.

Kate and Trudy measure the size of deer antlers.