This year’s Nampo Harvest Day, which is held yearly in Bothaville, in the Free State, will host the first-ever South African national ploughing competition, following local interest resulting from the launch of ploughing demonstrations at the event last year.
Two former World Plowing Championship (WPC) winners from Ireland and Scotland provided demonstrations for visitors and exhibitors last year, sparking the launch of an official local competition presented by South African grain producers association Grain SA, tyre manufacturer BKT and local tyre and tube distributor Tubestone.
“The interest in the ploughing demonstrations was so significant that Tubestone endeavoured to undertake a ploughing competition on a national scale, says Tubestone plough master Rudi du Toit.
Four regional competitions have already taken place in four provinces – the Western Cape, the Free State, Limpopo and the North West, with participants from all over South Africa taking part. The top three finalists from each of the regions will face one another at the national event, which will run from May 14 to 16.
On each of the three days, four of the finalists will compete. The competitors will practise for three hours between 09:00 and 12:00 before the competition, with the official ploughing competition held between 13:00 and 16:00.
The winner of the national competition will qualify to participate in the 2014 WPC, to be held in France.
While competitive ploughing is still in its infancy in South Africa, it is the sixtieth time the WPC will be hosted.
Ploughing at the WPC is done on either stubble or grass using either conventional or reversible ploughing methods; however, only conventional ploughing on grass will be undertaken at the competition in South Africa.
There is a specific skill involved in competitive ploughing and contestants will be judged on several different aspects, says Du Toit.
“Aspects such as how straight and deep a contestant has ploughed, the appearance of the opening split, the way in which the ridge plough lies turned, the finish and the general appearance of the ploughed land have to be considered during judging,” he explains.