CONTINUING the Bega Valley’s incredible form at the Royal Sydney Easter Show, Team Bega has taken out the 2014 RAS National Young Farmer Challenge.
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The team, consisting of Greg Heffernan, Sarah Dreverman, Josh Cochrane and late recruit Tom Otton, beat out several other teams to take out the national title.
The RAS [Royal Agricultural Society] Young Farmer Challenge is the ultimate test of skill and agility with young farmers aged 18 to 35 showcasing their skills, expertise, techniques and equipment.
The aim is to promote excellence in farming and highlight the talents of up and coming youth in agriculture.
“We are pretty excited, it was the national title,” Mr Heffernan said.
“When we were in the waiting room before the event all the other teams had a manager and had trained together, we just had to pull it together on the night."
Tasks involved in the challenge include a tractor race, ute three point turn, carrying an injured person on a stretcher 50m, building a laneway fence which is then used to herd an alpaca through, splitting blocks of wood, stacking bales of hay on an ATV, putting out a fire, pushing wool bales and identifying cuts of meat - and sprinting from one task to the next.
“It’s what we do every day of the week as dairy farmers so it’s second nature to get these tasks done quickly, and we all work really well as a team.
“We had to recruit Tom at the last minute to have a four-person team but he slotted in great.”
Each member of the team won a $1000.
Mr Heffernan, Ms Drevermen and Mr Cochrane were the three-person team who took out last year’s NSW state title at 2013 Royal Sydney Easter Show.
A separate team of three young farmers from Bega competed in qualifying heats this morning for tonight’s RAS Young Farmer Challenge NSW state finals but did not qualify.
In other show news local rider Troy Wilson has taken out Champion Gentlemen Rider.
More to come.