Mr Peter (29) has been balancing his work as a stud stock manager at Winton with studying for the grand final of the National Bank Young Farmer Contest which is being held in Masterton from Wednesday until Saturday.
He was a convincing winner of the Otago-Southland regional final in Winton in April, where he won more than $10,000 in prizes.
All seven grand finalists were new to the level, which was a rare occurrence in the contest's long history, but it has made for an even playing field as they vie for the title of Young Farmer of the Year.
In a recent interview, Mr Peter acknowledged it was getting to the nerve-wracking stage, including worrying what he had not studied yet, which could potentially be included in the competition.
He believed his strengths were the theory side of the competition, including feed and financial budgeting, along with any sheep-related modules in the practical section.
Public speaking and engineering and machinery were his weaker points, although he had been to Toastmasters several times and had also been doing a welding course.
Mr Peter has been involved with Young Farmers since 2001 and has been chairman of the Nightcaps club for the past four years.
He has a long history of competing at Young Farmer Contest district finals and has taken part in four regional finals, finally making the grand final, which he described as a "dream come true". It would be the "ultimate" to win the title, he said.
Former grand finalists have offered Mr Peter assistance and advice, and he was aware of the need to manage his time and achieve maximum points in the quickest time possible.
He enjoyed the social networking of Young Farmers, meeting like-minded people from a variety of rural backgrounds, and "having a bit of fun".
Young Farmers has gone through a revival and, at his own club, numbers had gone from a low of about five a few years ago up to 30.
Mr Peter is stud stock manager at The Gree, which runs 600 stud ewes and 800 flock ewes.
He personally owns 100 Texel stud ewes and was "quite passionate" about stud breeding.
A keen sportsman, he has competed in the Coast to Coast twice and run the Kepler Challenge nine times.
Next year, he intends contesting the two-day individual race in the Coast to Coast. He also plays social netball, touch and rugby.
The other grand finalists are dairy farmer Shane Munford (Northern), rural bank manager Tim van de Molen (Waikato-Bay of Plenty), sheep and beef farmer Mike Croad (East Coast), lower order sharemilker Cam Brown (Taranaki-Manawatu), sharemilker Cole Groves (Tasman) and dairy farm manager Will Grayling (Aorangi).
Young Farmer Contest grand final
• Wednesday: Official opening at Masterton Town Hall.
• Thursday: Technical challenge day at Brancepeth Station.
• Friday: Practical challenges at Solway A and P showgrounds.
• Saturday: Grand final show at Wairarapa College auditorium followed by a ball in the Masterton War Memorial Stadium.
• Grand final: Will be televised live on TVNZ7 at 7.05pm and repeated on TV One at 10.15pm.