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Fieldays ExhibitorPROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

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AG ART EXTRAVAGANZA

Models strut their stuff

An Auckland compact equipment company has

pulled a risky move by listing a digger worth $38,985 for one dollar, no reserve on Trademe, in a promotion for the lead-up to the Fieldays.

The auction has been running since Queen’s Birthday weekend and closes on Sunday June 19.

The digger had generated 46 bids with a top bid of $23,600 by yesterday.

Endraulic Sales Manager, Blair Sargison who created the auction page said he had to think twice before clicking the list button to start the auction.

“I was very concerned, having said that, I’m still very concerned. At the moment we are still on target to lose a lot of money. ”

Although the digger is still under recommended retail price, the auction has generated good publicity for the company and for the brand of digger – a 1.8 ton Sunward Mini-Excavator, which is new to New Zealand.

“We have had just fewer than 13,000 views of the auction so far and we are expecting to get a lot more. So far, it’s been very good. I suspect we won’t make any money out of it though, but that’s not the idea. We are expecting to lose money.”

Endraulic specialises in compact and heavy earth-moving equipment and has been participating in the Fieldays for seven years.

Mr Sargison said raising money for a charity through the auction was something that was considered but Endraulic

position to do so.“We were looking at raising

money for a charity but we have been going through a bit of a tough time over the past three years with construction. My concern was that if we promised money to a charity, we might then have to turn around and say we didn’t make any money.”

The idea to create an auction came about by how popular one dollar no reserve auctions are on Trademe.

“I thought I’d give it a go with one of our diggers,” Mr Sargison Said.

Mr Sargison said it has been interesting watching the auction progress.

“I certainly didn’t expect it to jump up to over $20,000 so

quickly, especially because we didn’t advertise it. To have it reach such a high price in less than 24 hours was very surprising.”

Mr Sargison said if he had his time again, he would not start the auction so early before the Fieldays was due to start, because it generated so much success in such a short period of time.

“On one hand, I would be a lot happier if it was still at a couple of thousand dollars and people had held off their bidding until the end. Now we are going to have people coming talong here to the Fieldays, saying ‘Where’s this one dollar

auction?’ and all of a sudden it’s up to $23, 600 already.”

Endraulic has turned to online mediums such as Trademe for advertising and has found that money spent on print advertising has dropped dramatically over the last two years.

The auction on Trademe has generated positive feedback, with one potential buyer writing, “My little boy turns two next month and he would absolutely love this!”

Mr Sargison wrote back saying “Yes he would. But then he’d get given a Megatron Transformer and the digger would be in the forgotten toys pile in no time.”

By Monica Tischler

GOING GOING GONE: Territory manager for Endraulic Ltd, Allan Gudsell (left), and sales manager, Blair Sargison, with the same brand of digger that has been listed for one dollar on Trademe. PHOTO: Monica Tischler

od ed by C

n Auckland compact equipment company has d k b l

onica Tischler

Digger for a dollar?

2

The Exhibitor

Contributors

Sponsors

Ticketing meets Olympic standard

Chairman’s Message

TICKETS PLEASE: Barry Quayle likes new system PHOTO: Geoff Ridder

Welcome to the 43rd Fieldays. On behalf of the NZ

National Agricultural Fieldays team we wish you a very warm welcome to Australasia’s

The Premier Feature theme for Fieldays 2011 is “Breaking Barriers to Productivity” with the key focus being on providing

productivity in the farming sector. Primary Wool Cooperative, with a renewed enthusiasm for showcasing the way in which the raw product becomes the valuable

sponsor of our feature area. We are very aware that our

exhibitors are keen to display their machinery and ideas to the best of their ability. We have instituted a paving programme that will eventually see all roads as all-weather access to every site. This will ease the ability for visitors to have access during even the worst of weather. Last year was one of those rare events when very little rain affected Fieldays. We hope that this lack of rain may be repeated this year.

The Fieldays team has worked hard to prepare for this year’s event and we look forward to providing you all with a spectacle that will equal if not exceed, what you have come to expect.

Thank you for all your hard work and cooperation during the build up to Fieldays. We wish you an enjoyable and successful event.

Warwick Roberts,Ag Fieldays Chairman

Caz Wood,Exhibitor Liaison

By Kirsty McMurray

A swift, no-nonsense entry through the Fieldays gate is

almost guaranteed this year as at

second are admitted to the event.The equipment that scans

and tracks more than 120,000 ticket barcodes is based on the technology used during the Sydney Olympics and is responsible for a 35 percent increase in the speed of exhibitor and visitor entry to Fieldays.

General Manager of Fieldays Barry Quayle says that it’s all about getting people in quickly and readily.

“I remember when we had queues 400m long and 2-3 wide at the main gates before 8am that would take 50 minutes to clear. Now we’ve got a third more people lining up before 8am and there’s no queue after eight minutes.”

Exhibitor Margaret Bishop, from Newman Engineering who came in at 6.30am yesterday found that the system “works really well” but did note that in seven years they have been attending Fieldays they have discovered that arriving early

and going through the exhibitors gate is the key to getting in quick.

But even at 7am the line wasn’t moving fast enough for some. Exhibitor Daryl Norrish, national sales manager of Paddon said that scanning each individual ticket in a car took more time than he would have liked.

“Three or four minutes is too long to wait around.”

The ticketing and event access

“The system works really well...”

management system STREAM, developed by Fieldays in conjunction with the computer science department at the University of Waikato, not only scans and tracks the barcodes but also allows visitors and exhibitors to buy their tickets online and print them at home. The system has also been adapted so it can be used at other events.

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Prime Minster John Key cut the opening chains of Fieldays at

midday yesterday symbolising this year’s theme “Breaking barriers to productivity”.

Mr Key told the crowd packed tightly around the Village Green his Government was committed to improving agricultural productivity.

“One of the great things about the Fieldays is seeing the agricultural innovation. That’s the reason New Zealand is doing so well. It’s not because we subsidise our farmers, because we don’t.”

Mr Key said that New Zealand’s high dollar was not going anywhere any time soon. He applauded farmers saying it was

By Kasia Jillings

By James Ireland

PHOTO: Kasia Jillings

PHOTO: James Ireland

PHOTO: James Ireland

Fieldays business helps quake man

PM John Key opens Fieldays

Chris Stead, Director of Christchurch based compa-

ny Theme Productions, is busy at Fieldays but just wants to be back home with his family.

Mr Stead was setting up the AgResearch exhibition his com-pany designed and built, which features four giant metre long bugs, when Christchurch was rocked by two aftershocks, measuring 5.5 and 6.0 on the Richter scale.

While the Fieldays Exhibitor was talking to Mr Stead about the giant black beetle his colleague affectionately calls “Barry”, he received a phone call from his partner who said there had been a large aftershock and cliffs were collapsing everywhere, but she was safe.

She was picking her son up from Redcliffs School when the second quake struck at 2.20pm.

Mr Stead said he didn’t know what to think anymore.

``You try to be positive and strong but I can’t help but think how many more strikes till you’re out.’

``I feel really anxious, this morning my main issue was the volcanic ash cloud and getting

KIWI BATTLER: Bob Johnston (left) and Chris Stead set up model bugs

WINNING SMILE: John Key cuts the productivity barrier

back to Christchurch by Thursday for another exhibition, now I have no idea if it will even be on.’’

Mr Stead’s home was just me-tres from the epicentre of yes-terday’s 5.5 magnitude quake, at Taylor’s Mistake beach, but a neighbour said there was no ob-vious damage.

He had not heard if Theme

irreparably damaged in the Feb-ruary earthquake, had survived.

Long-time Cantabrian Mr Stead said he loves the region and wants his kids to grow up there but the most recent earthquakes raised a lot of questions for him.

Despite this he plans to stick it out in Christchurch.

``So far I’ve been able to get by. I’m a resilient guy, I think most Cantabrians are, so for now I’ll stay in Christchurch.’’

Mr Stead has had his fair share of quake turmoil.

His Diamond Harbour home was severely damaged in the September 2010 earthquake forc-ing him to move his family to Taylor’s Estate.

His new home was then knocked off its foundations dur-ing the February earthquake and the building of his event produc-

tion and prop company had to be demolished.

The biggest struggle in the wake of the February earthquake was getting back on their feet af-ter losing their building and 80 per cent of their props and be-longings, he said.

``It takes so long to get back up and running, an easy job that might usually take a day be-comes agonising.’’

Mr Stead said that jobs in other

towns, such as Fieldays in Ham-ilton, are important because there is no work left in Christchurch.

``People I know who were in professional management rolls are back on the tools because they need to make a living.’’

Theme Productions also worked with AgResearch last year and won the Premier Feature Site Award which Mr Stead hopes to win again this year.

because they are so productive that the dollar was so high.

During the ceremony guests were welcomed by Te Pau O Mangatawhiri Kapa Haka group.

partners were raised by local military cadets.

by the rural bachelors’ “Best of the best,” to an a capella rendition of Bing Crosby’s What a Wonderful World.

After the ceremony Mr Key,

shook the hands of passers-by constantly answering the question, “Are you having a good day at Fieldays?”

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IMAGE: Supplied

PHOTO: Kristin Beale

Cowbassador reports for duty

ANZ trials rugby world cup container ATMs

CLEVER COW: Children love Rosie the cowbassador

CONTAINER CONVENIENCE: ANZ has placed ATMs in a shipping container

Naive, enthusiastic and ready to take on the

world. Sounds like an eager child ready or their rst day of school But this child is a cow. Rosie the cow, to be pre-cise – the New Zealand dairy industry’s new “cowbassa-dor”.

A Shrek-type character, Rosie is an animated cow that talks, smiles and laughs.

She lives on a website and has a Facebook page which will show children her ad-ventures across the country, learning about dairy farming and all the bits in between.

DairyNZ’s senior com-munications advisor, Alex Fear, is part of the team work-ing on the concept and the unveiling at Fieldays 2011.

“Rosie is just so fun,” she says. “I can’t help but talk about her as if she’s a real person. Cow? I’m not even sure.

“She’s just a nice interac-tive way to engage with chil-dren and their parents, be-cause mum and dad are there helping with their homework too.”

As part of the Go Dairy campaign for DairyNZ, Ham-ilton’s King St Advertising created the website to inform children and their parents about dairy farming and its signi cance to the New Zea-

land economy. Rosie’s job will entail being the face of the 4.4 million cows that roam our land to the 4.39 million people that roam the streets.

As an anatomically cor-rect cow she has been signed o by DairyNZ vets.

She will be a resource in schools to help with subjects such as maths and social sci-ence.

“It could be counting herds of cows or for social sci-ence innovation – how pro-gressively things have moved from milking by hand to ro-botic milking now,” Ms Fear says.

Teachers will have access to a related website for class-

Fieldays is ge ing a taste of what ANZ has lined up for

the Rugby World Cup.The bank has formed part-

nerships with these promi-nent events and has intro-duced new services that will be tested at Fieldays before the Rugby World Cup in Sep-tember.

One of the new services is the portable container of ATM machines.

The container can be found in the main banking area near the Village Green.

room resources.King St’s accounts man-

ager Katherine arro says creating a character from scratch has been a big chal-lenge. “We are just starting to the see magic of it now as the videos are ge ing devel-oped.”

King St wanted to create a story that made Rosie as real as possible. It decided on her home farm just outside Rag-lan. Rosie is a kiwi-cross cow, half friesian and half jersey.

“It’s de nitely about tar-geting kids, but we want it to be appealing to the adults as well. That’s where you need layering like Shrek; some of it will go straight over the kid’s

heads and adults can have a giggle instead,” Ms arro says.

Initially Rosie will be aimed at ve to eight year olds but over time this will ex-tend out to older age groups.

The site has fun games to pass on information about the dairy industry to children.

“It’s the li le things as well,” Ms Fear says. “For example, children could be in the car and see cows in a

eld and be able to recognise what type of cow they are, or if they are chewing the cud.”

As Fieldays draws closer, the excitement is building for everyone involved with Ro-sie. This is when the Rosie website is being launched. She will have her own tent set up where people can come and nd out a bit more about the dairy industry.

“We will have a costume Rosie there,” Ms Fear says.

There will be a story of how grass turns into milk and resources that kids can look at with their parents or guardians. Children can play the interactive games on iP-ads and use them for looking at the website.

This is only the beginning for Rosie, as both DairyNZ and King St have big things planned for her future. Rosie will travel around New Zea-land at rst, but soon she may be taking o overseas .

By Annie French

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PHOTO: Danni WinmillSHEEP SUCCESS: Hamish de Lautour waits for visitors

The story of the Golden Fleece is nearly as old as

the wool industry itself.First recorded in eighth

century BC by ancient Greek poet Homer, the highly sought article was said to be the pelt of a golden-haired, winged ram, allegedly the offspring of a sea god and his consort nymph. After performing the requisite he-roic feats, the beast shed its skin and flew to the heav-ens to become the constella-tion Aries, leaving the oth-erworldly fleece behind as a lauded possession among kings and men.

New Zealanders have our own world-renowned fleece mythology proclaim-ing that we live in a country that has 20 sheep for every person - a statement that is, if not entirely fictitious, at the very least vastly out of date.

These days the numbers are more like 10 sheep per person according to Statis-tics New Zealand.

Now slowly recovering and with an increasingly optimistic outlook, it re-mains undeniable that our country shares a special re-lationship with sheep and wool. So it is surprising to learn that 2011 is the first of the 43 years since its incep-tion that a wool company will be the headline sponsor and feature exhibitor of the New Zealand National Ag-ricultural Fieldays.

“Wool is certainly ex-periencing a renaissance,” says Bay de Lautour, a fourth-generation sheep farmer and chairman of pre-mier sponsor Primary Wool Cooperative.

He attributes this in part to the growing ‘green’ movement that has seen people turn away from syn-

Are you looking for the best steak experience in the Waikato this Fieldays?

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Go no further than Smith & McKenzie.

Smith & McKenzie is located opposite Westfield, Chartwell on Lynden Court, Hamilton and has loads of

free parking

Visit www.smithandmckenzie to check out the full menu including the range of desserts and beverages.

To secure your Smith & McKenzie experience book a table now. Call 07 855 1400 and speak to one of the friendly team members.

“Wool is certainly experiencing a renaissance”

By Jenna Shaw

thetics in favour of natural fibres such as wool, while at the same time develop-ments in fine wool products such as merino mean new offerings and innovations for the market.

Also operating in the in-dustry’s favour is the Prince Charles-endorsed interna-tional Campaign for Wool, a UK initiative to boost the profile of wool worldwide.

More than 130,000 peo-ple will flock through the entry gates of this year’s Fieldays to celebrate the premier feature theme of Breaking Barriers to Pro-ductivity, hosted by argu-ably the most traditional of agricultural industries.

The theme is a natural fit for Primary Wool Co-operative, a farmer-owned organisation which boasts almost 40 years of industry-leading invention, innova-tion and renovation, much of which will be on show at its premier exhibitor site, the pavilion, at Fieldays.

“Visitors will be able to see the entire wool produc-tion value chain, from ani-mal to retail products,” says Mr de Lautour.

The cooperative invests heavily in adding value to wool, and the pavilion will showcase new technologies in spinning, wool scarring (a washing method), and felted wool, as well as a full complement of wool prod-uct examples from bedding and clothing to specialist suits and flooring.

“Wool uses now are much the same as histori-cal uses,’ says Mr de Laut-our. “Wool has always been used for flooring, clothing and housing”.

Kiwi ingenuity makes a method of the myth with a recent innovation that binds gold particles with wool fibres to create gorgeous colours and unique fabric properties. Nanogold wool never fades or washes out, is antimicrobial, insecti-cidal and anti-static, and at $300 per gold-infused scarf, is slated for the high-end in-ternational fashion market. A garment fit for a king in-deed.

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Ag art extravaganza

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PHOTOS: Jenna Jamieson, Geoff RidderYou can see the Wearable Rural Ag Art Showcase at 10am today in the Ag Art Wear pavilion. If you can’t leave your stall visit www.waikatoindependent.co.nz

8

PHOTO: Rhiann KeightleyKIWI THREADS: Terry Marshall sews up a storm

By Rhiann Keightley

From rocking rodeo and stunning saddlery to tough

Kiwi threads and delicious co ee husband and wife Terry and Sonja Marshall are sewing and serving up a storm.

After 25 years at Mystery Creek, Otorohanga’s Circle M Brand is keeping it Kiwi through a range of high quality outdoor clothing, designed and manufactured in the Waikato.

Terry is a man of many skills, who would put a lot of women to shame with his needle and thread. While Circle M Brand was established by Terry and his wife Sonja, the couple are kept busy in separate trades with Sonja trading in the sewing machine for a co ee machine at her own Central Cafe in Te Awamutu.

Terry works out of a small shop on his Otorohanga property “It’s small but it does the job.” The

rst year at the new establishment was spent doing his saddlery before a trip to the Fieldays with a few clothing garments in tow saw a promising change. “It was the ‘year of the horse’ at the Fieldays

and all the clothing sold out in the rst day; we knew we were onto

something.”From then on he spent his time

manufacturing outdoor apparel. “Our initial target market was the farming industry but times change - from farming to leisure and now industrial.”

With a small international

8

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Keeping it Kiwimarket, supplying overseas is a tough job. Terry works alongside Paula Hobbs, the only other full time worker who has stayed loyal to Terry.

“I’ve been sewing since my son turned ve and went to school, I’ve been here forever,” she laughs.

A keen duck shooter, Terry believes it is the good quality

oilskin that a racts hunters. “Oilskin is a seller and people love the quality. It’s been around for around 100 years and still works – you can’t go wrong.”

Circle M Brand doesn’t just appeal to hunters as half of the stock sold these days is safety gear. Its most popular item is one of its high end products, the ‘Work Jacket’. The high visibility gear also sells well. Paula says Circle M Brand make the entire garment out of oilskin and just use the high vis as an overlay.

The National Agricultural Fieldays is the company’s biggest event and this year they will have both businesses on show as Sonja puts the bachelor contestants through a cooking competition, as well as holding cooking demonstrations.

Employee Paula compares the Fieldays to Christmas. “It’s like our Christmas because it’s the right season for our clothes; November to March is our quiet months so we have to make our money while the time’s right.”

See Terry and his team at K15 or visit www.circlembrand.com.

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Scott Gordon steps out of his sign painted business station

cap branded with ‘Showscape’. As he begins to answer questions

products.

By Ayla Gwilliam

By Vicky Way

FLAT WHITE: Paige Stoneman pours yet another cup. PHOTO: Geoff Ridder

Coffee kicks in for farmers

King of the sites

not changed.“The price of coffee beans has

bad feedback.

areas to work in. We run quite a bit

co.nz

10

It took a major health scare for 67-year-old sculptor Dave

Howe to discover his passion, but he’s been bringing sculptures to Fieldays ever since.

About 10 years ago Mr Howe had a stroke which left him unable to work so he turned to sculpting.

``Now I enter the Rural Press Sculpture Competition every year.’’

This year he entered two cows’ heads, which took over a month to create and are made from real skulls, detailed with hundreds of small paua pieces.

Mr Howe said horse shoe nails were his preferred inspiration, which comes from his days as a younger man shoeing horses.

He can make just about anything out of them but his favourites are palm sized western saddles similar to those cowboys use.

Fellow artist and friend Todd Harris said Mr Howe is a ``legendary artist’’.

Mr Harris, who won the

competition last year, has entered an impressive life-size horse this year, named Milly the Filly.

There is also a full-scale motor bike on display that was sculpted by Te Aroha artist Adrian Worsley.

The trio of sculptors are scrap hounds who only use recycled products in their art.

``If it’s recycled, rusty or second hand I’ll use it,’’ said Mr Worsley.

Both Todd and Adrian had been collecting junk for around 10 years to complete their sculptures.

All three agreed they love showing their work to the public.

``It’s the ultimate buzz when you see someone admiring your work,’’ said Mr Worsley.

The sculptures will be judged today with a total prize pool of $1500 up for grabs.

The sculptures can be viewed any time over Fieldays at the exhibition site, opposite the entrance to the Main pavilion, and some of them are also for sale.

By Kasia Jillings

Sculptor recycles junk

HEADS UP: Rebecca Stuart displays two cow skulls PHOTO: Kasia Jillings

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Field on FieldaysAn hour before the gates

opened to the public, the ‘fat-breakfast’ tent was packed with exhibitors and their helpers, stoking up on sausages, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and peppery mushrooms in thick sauce – ready for the onslaught.

And it wasn’t long before

wanderers came pouring down the hill, spreading out along the lanes and byways. Within seconds the tills were jingling and the zip-zap Eftpos machines were spitting out their receipts. Fieldays No. 43 was underway.

As always, there was an air of suppressed excitement and eagerness about it all, as the vast tent city suddenly came to life. Tens of thousands of people were on the site by midday, and, also as always, the established

clothing places were deluged with bargain hunters.

Obviously the bargains were there: young men were lugging large boxes of camo gear; older farmers were sporting new gumboots that were clean and shiny; women were snuggling into new jackets as the morning chills lingered; kids were sporting smart new packs, or snappy new caps, or waving branded balloons or bags or posters.

Coffee vendors, always favourites, worked feverishly to cope with the constantly growing queues in front of their tiny, hectic stands, and the smiles,

relaxed as the piles of money kept mounting in the tills.

For once, the weather was kind.

Often the week of Fieldays is

snap or a rich Waikato fog, or perhaps a steady, hammering rain that rapidly turns indentations in the roadways into puddles and then gluey mud.

But yesterday, by 10.30am, sunshine was streaming through the thinning clouds, and jackets, heavy coats and thick jerseys were being peeled off as the crowds warmed to the business of enjoying the day.

And, as the big machinery vendors, and the marketers of tools, and the purveyors of boots and wet-weather gear and warm outdoor clothing all settled into the business of doing as much business as they could, the indications were that the 2011 National Fieldays at Mystery Creek are going to be a good deal better than average.

By Kingsley Field

PHOTO: Geoff Ridder

Merino - bargain of the day

All day: Golden Pliers (singles) fencing trophy (end of M Road)9: Weight transfer and weight adjusted tractor pull heats(C8)10: Timbersports athlete Jason Wynard demonstrates his world champion logging skills (J14-J16)10: Vintage tractor parade11: Bachelors tractor pull heat (C8)11.15: ANZ activities (Village Green)12.40: Kiwi’s Best Kiwi food in traditional French style (L6)1: Machinery and equipment demonstrations (J4)2: Retrofest – sounds of the 50s,60’s,70s and 80s (Village Green)3: Bachelors Hyundai vehicle handling challenge (Village Green)

What’s on todayKid of the day

GEE UP: Grace Richardson tries to tickle Milly the Filly PHOTO: Kasia Jillings

Merino long-sleeved sweaters that would generally retail

for up to $120 are discounted to $60 at the Line 7 outlet at the Fieldays.

The sweaters are knitted in Australia and are made from New Zealand and Australian

manager Greg Miller said they were selling quickly.

“We’ve got a couple of colours, good sizing and they’re ticking along nicely.”

The Line 7 building is at K11, down the road from the Mystery Creek Pavilion.

BY Ethan Donnell

2000:

9:

85:

1 in 442:

By the numbers

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Wintec tutors had to think outside the boundary

yesterday – quite literally, as tall pine trees blocked the satellite internet connection to the journalism cabin.

With the help of Chris Lord, tutor for Wintec’s regional centre in Otorohanga, a few coffees, and the generosity of the team at Lochiel golf course, the satellite trailer was put on the golf course on the other side of the trees.

After it seemed as though the daily news would not be delivered, the dilemma was solved. Now that’s a hole in one.

Nature gets in the way of technology

We’ve got it covered

IN THE ROUGH: The satellite trailer which had to be located on the golf course on the other side of the pine trees gives internet access to Wintec journalism students.

By Monica Tischler

By Margi Moore

PHOTOS: Geoff Ridder

The Fieldays Exhibitor, with its online equivalent The

Waikato Independent, has the largest news team covering the National Agricultural Fieldays.

With more than 30 journalists and a dozen photographers, the team is able to produce extensive Fieldays coverage both in a daily newspaper format delivered each morning by Fieldays volunteers and updated hourly online.

The paper has a 3000 daily print run while the website has attracted 11,000 page visits so far.

The team can be found at site L26 and we would love to hear from you if you have a story to share.

Tied to your stall all day? Visit www.waikatoindependent.co.nz and check out our top 50 photographs of the Ag Art Wear exhibition.