Not the type of event one would usually see featured on Fox Sports, ploughing competitions were once hugely popular in Australia going back to convict times.

Indicating the support they once enjoyed before tractors finally replaced draught horses on Australian farms after World War II, Millthorpe's Grand Western Lodge, built for spectators of such events in 1901, is an example of their widespread appeal.

Local teams and entrants are now being invited to enter the 50th running of The Golden Plough, one of the most prestigious ploughing competitions in Australia.

The event first began in 1976 and is still going strong, with fans and supporters invited to the 2026 event late next month.

With this year’s half-century celebrations being held at Peak Hill, organiser and previous winner Aleks Berzins is keen for Orange district entrants to apply.

Held in Lyndhurst, west of Blayney, in 2024, he explained that local competitors have included multi-competition winner Chris Chapman, a Blayney farmer who bagged the top prize six times, no less.

“Every year we tend to move around to different locations, this is our 50th anniversary and, as well as Lyndhurst, we’ve previously held it at places like Eugowra and Wongarbon,” Aleks explained.

“We move it around so as to add variety with types of soils and such, and so it adds to the integrity of the competition to go to different locations,” he added.

Drawing teams from around Australia, the competition has been running since the mid-1970s and only missed one event due to the COVID lockdowns, Aleks revealed.

“It actually started at the old Lachlan Vintage Village at Forbes in 1976, and the fella who founded it, Wilf Norris, was from Peak Hill.

So, we thought it would be quite nice to have this special 50-year event at his place of birth.”

The Golden Plough is Australia’s premier such event in a competition in which the creation of straight, consistent furrows is a central aim, Aleks said.

“Competitors bring their own horses and single furrow ploughs, so it’s really a team sport. You’ve got a maximum of rows that you must plough, usually eight to 16 furrows, on which you’re judged.”

With a family background in farming and a keen competitor himself, as vice president of the Western Branch Australian Draught Horse Stud Book Society, Aleks said the sport is akin to sheep dog trials, in that it is a joint effort between human and animal.

“Personally, my grandfather farmed with horses, so I have a strong family connection and, even in the old days, farmers were proud to plough a straight furrow.

“It’s definitely an art rather than a science; when working with horses you’ve got that connection with your horses, you’re working together,” Aleks emphasised.

The May event follows a world record effort at the Barellan Good Old Days Festival in October 2025, where a 62‐horse team — including Clydesdales, Australian Draughts, Shires, Suffolk Punches, and Percherons — of which Aleks was one of the teamsters, drew an antique Bennett wool wagon fully laden, with some of these horses appearing at the Peak Hill event.

The 2026 Golden Plough will include a Ladies, Junior, Novice and Veteran ploughing divisions, horse‐led obstacle courses across three disciplines, demonstrations, markets, food stalls and family activities, and the headline Golden Plough Championship.

The event is on the weekend of Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, at Peak Hill Showgrounds; for more information, go to: www.facebook.com/thegoldenplough