No-one in Otago knows his way around a tractor and plough better than Palmerston farmer Noel Sheat.
Sheat and his wife Thelma have a 365ha property at Bushey and farm their cattle and cropping operation with their son and daughter-in-law, Ronald and Fran Sheat.
Sheat (71) has been involved in ploughing as a competitor, judge and administrator for the past 45 years.
He is as passionate about the sport as he is about working his farm.
Ploughmen, he said, were judged on 10 different aspects. Competition success demanded technical skill, accuracy and intense concentration.
Ploughmen work plots of 100m by 20m, and have a three-hour time limit.
Points are awarded and deducted, among other things, for straightness, weed control, the finish, uniformity and general appearance.
The general appearance was something you should be able to judge, he said.
The plot should be nice and straight and the furrows even. If it was straight, it looked good.
The benefit of good ploughing was that it buried all the rubbish and there was no need for insecticides.
Sheat competed in his first New Zealand championships in 1969, won the Silver Plough at Gore in 1985 and has been second three times.
He competed in four world championships, in 1978, 1981, 1983 and 1986, and was fourth in Germany in 1986.
He has been on the New Zealand executive since 1993 and has spent countless hours organising events at national and international level.
The past year has been a big one for New Zealand ploughing and we were thrilled by the success of our ploughmen at the world championships, and now one of the challenges is to do well in Sweden.