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Kaipara Young Farmers secretary Zarnie Ferguson, from Kaukapakapa, moved up one place this year to finish third in the Northern FMG Young Farmer of the Year regional final held at Kaikohe last month.
The winner for the third time was Lisa Kendall, from Franklin, who will compete in Timaru at what will be her last attempt, having finished second and third for the last two years.
The regional finals were held over two days in an attempt to streamline the process with the top eight qualifiers from Friday’s district final going through to the next stage on the Saturday. Three Kaipara representatives – Jamie Hodges, Daniel Richards and Zarnie – made it through to the regional final.
Zarnie went into the weekend with one goal – to finish one place better than the year before – so having achieved that, she is now firing on all cylinders to get into the grand final next year.
“It’s a unique combination of competition and education, and in my experience at least, it’s highly addictive,” she says.
She also surprised herself with the discovery she enjoys ultrasound scanning sheep which “for a dairy and beef girl was a bit of a shock”.
The weather over the two days wasn’t the best, but she says she had to work at such a pace that there was no time to put her wet weather gear on and didn’t even notice the rain until after she had finished.
