Juggling a new contract milking job with a young family and hitting the books for the Young Farmer of the Year grand final hasn’t been easy for Canterbury farmer Jonny Brown.
The Tasman finalist plans to concentrate on relaxing in the days leading up to the Friday start of the contest in Whangarei.
That’s not to say he hasn’t been preparing for the big event, but life has been busy.
"It’s a weird feeling really," a straight-shooting Mr Brown said. "I’m a bit relieved it’s finally here and I’m nervous and excited and looking forward to the workload dropping. It’s going to be great fun and I’m looking forward to spending a bit of time with the fellas up there."
The 31-year-old father-of-two qualified in his fourth and final attempt at the regional contest.
At that stage, he was a dairy farm manager for Dairy Holdings Ltd, milking 1300 cows.
He’s still on the farm, but has ventured into contract milking.
"It’s been absolutely nuts setting it up and I’ve spent more time recruiting than I would’ve liked. I could have been better prepared [for the final]. I guess I can potentially be a Young Farmer for a year, but I am in business for 30. But there is a bit of a lucky aspect in this contest with what can happen on the day and if the organisers inadvertently line things up to my strengths, we are all on."
In his spare time he has been preparing for the event, last week meeting up with a fencer to polish his skills, while his partner has been working on his self-confessed creative weakness with a few mates turning up with a truckload of parts to build a gate.
He also spent a day getting a few tips from Dairy Holdings chief executive Colin Glass, a former Young Farmer of the Year contestant.
Mr Brown said it was important for him to relax now.
"It’s going to be a stressful situation up there and the more relaxed I am, the better I will go."
He rates his more advanced years than other contestants as an advantage and will be travelling to the final with his family who he said were his "biggest supporters".
