Horsepower main feature of agricultural fielday

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 287, 23 May 1989, Page 9

Horsepower main feature of agricultural fielday

Horsepower will be to the fore at this year's NZ Agricultural Fielday s to be held at Mystery Creek, June 15-17.

Eclipsed by the tractor for most farm work, horses will nevertheless be the main feature for the Fieldays - focusing on the bloodstock industry. The tractor will be strongly represented in another feature 100 Years of the Tractor. While tractors may have won the 'horsepower battle', horses have undergone a metamorphis from

being the prime motive force on the farm to the cornerstone of a large and growing industry. The bloodstock industry has become New Zealand's sixth largest export earner and deserves the Fieldays' appellation 'The Horse 1989 - Industries of the Future'. There will be guest appearances by wellknown gallopers, trot-

ters and pacers, including their riders and drivers, as part of the main feature. Exhibitors include the NZ Standard-bred Association, NZ Racing Conference and the Totalisator Agency Board. Up to 150 vintage tractors are expected to 'clank and rattle' their way from Cambridge to Mystery Creek as an impressive introduction to the 1989 Fieldays. Organised by the Waikato Vintage Trac-

tor and Machinery Club, the tractor display will include models from around New Zealand. One keen exhibitor is about to leave Nightcaps, near Invercargill, to drive his 1944 McCormick tractor to the Fieldays. Spokesman Noel Yearbury says the organisers are still keen to hear from others with vintage tractors for display - those older than 1955 qualify as of right.