Feb 9, 2024
Two competitions were held on the weekend: Central Regions/Taihape Ruapehu and the Elk Wapiti Society NZ. Here's how they went.
Central Regions and Taihape Ruapehu 2 & 3 year old velvet & hard antler competition
A great competition on Saturday thanks to James Peters and Graham & Kate Cudby for organising venue and refreshments. Unfortunately due to date, there were no Hard Antler 2 & 3 year old entries.
Big thanks to Mark McCoard for coordinating with NZDFA & DINZ who organised the chef Tyson from Rustic Restaurants Taihape & Waiouru for this event.
On Saturday we sampled four different dishes to trail a new initiative for cooking old stag. To get more value out of old culled stags. We felt like we were on Master Chef being served and giving feedback on the dishes and tenderness of the meat.
Thank you too to our little helpers Georgie, Millar & Indie.
Justin Stevens gave an update from the DFA perspective what’s going on and Lindsay Fung gave us an update on the ongoing negotiation with China regarding Velvet access.
A very enjoyable afternoon. Thanks everyone.
- Craig Hocken, Central Regions Branch NZDFA
Click here to view the results (bottom tab) >>
Elk Wapiti Society Event 2024
Velvet on display at the EWSNZ event.
With 50 entries from 11 farms across 7 velvet classes, the Society's Velvet and AGM event 2024 was a great success.
2nd of February was registration and judging day, starting at noon our team of wrapped up, efficient committee members and seasoned judges pushed through the coolstores high of 0 degrees to get the job done.
Saturday 3rd February started with our AGM at the Highlands Motorpark members lounge, followed by car museum viewing and Go Kart racing, to my knowledge Josh May was "King of the track".
Displaying 50 entries in age groups from 2yr old through to mixed aged, and weights ranging from 9kg to 24kg was very challenging and took every available table to do so. Event 2024 saw velvet entries from 2yr olds weighing over 11kg, with nearly 60% of our entries from animals aged 4yrs or younger. and a total of over 660kg of velvet on display.
The Gate Hotel in Cromwell provided a great venue for the evening dinner and awards, notable winners were Tikana Wapiti, Achnahanat, and Mayfield Elk, who also took home the Reserve Champion and Champion of Champion Awards for 2024. Champion of Champion was "Eureka - 24.16kg - Mayfield Elk"
Cheers Grant Hasse, EWSNZ President
Click here to view the results >>
