Boar Breeders competition marks 12 years at the Canterbury show
Young farmers’ syndicates raise pigs for a Canterbury show competition that runs on serious judging and a big night out.
|November 12, 2026Listen to the full interview:
The Boar Breeders Association competition drew 24 syndicates to the Canterbury A&P Show, 12 years after it began there.
Co-president Tom Dobson, a North Canterbury livestock agent, says the pigs are judged as butcher’s pigs.
“You’re aiming for a pig between the 80 to 100 kilo mark,” he says.
Tom says most pigs go to North Canterbury Homekill, the competition’s lead sponsor, where each syndicate orders ham, sausages, bacon or chops.
The best commercial boar went to Grace Miller, who also tied first in the under-18 section with Liam Daly of the Brookside Boar Breeders.
“When I first started, which was four years ago, it was pretty tough back then, and from then ’til now, it’s amazing.”
Watch the full interview:
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