Waikato farmer ready to take on Fieldays Rural Catch

Ben Fisher has dusted off his mantelpiece for the Golden Gumboot ahead of the Fieldays Rural Catch competition. He’s also been for the odd run in preparation for the event.

The Ohaupo finalist is a Dairy NZ farm manager who is excited and eager to see what comes of the competition. 

The Rural Bachelor competition has been revamped this year to become the Fieldays Rural Catch competition, with women competing for the first time.

Alongside Fisher, three other males and four females will take part in various challenges to compete for the grand golden gumboot at the upcoming agricultural event at Mystery Creek. 

Fieldays Rural Catch manager Lynn Robinson is impressed with the entrants this year.

“The calibre of entrants was very high and it was hard to narrow it down to just eight entrants,” says Robinson.

Ben doesn’t quite know what he’s got himself into but he says he’s excited and hopes he will meet someone. 

“I’m single and it sounds like a lot of fun, so why not give it a crack?” said Fisher.

Challenges will include fencing, quad bike skills and dog handling, as well as some around tractors, cooking, finances and fitness skills. 

He hasn’t exactly been training for the challenges he is about to face but working on a farm means he sometimes works with quad bikes and does fencing. 

“I guess I’ve been practising fencing, that’s a part of my general work day,” said Fisher. 

“I’ve also been trying with the fitness, I mean I’ve been on an odd run now and then.”

Fisher has already dusted off his mantelpiece at home for where he’ll sit the golden gumboot. He seem’s rather confident and admits he is quite competitive. 

If he happens to fall short for the grand prize, he says he’d be more than happy with walking away having made some new friends and even meeting that special someone. 

“It will be interesting to meet like-minded people from the agriculture sector and I would hopefully like to meet someone,” said Fisher. 

Ben’s whole life has been revolved around farming; he grew up on a farm in Masterton before moving to the Waikato seven years ago.