Dairy farmer Brett Loughridge, and his son Scott from Poowong, are preparing to represent Australia at this year's World Ploughing Contest to be held in Kuldiga in western Latvia.
It's an event he's willing to travel long distances for, having headed to 13 world matches since 1993, which have taken places from Sweden, to Canada, England and Ireland, Slovenia, Germany and in 2019 the US state of Minnesota.
And it runs in the family - Mr Loughridge took out the reversible ploughing division at the Australian championships in Tasmania last year to qualify for the event in Latvia while his son Scott won the conventional ploughing class.
Mr Loughridge said there was a proud tradition of ploughing in his family spanning generations.
The tradition does have a good stronghold in west Gippsland having sent many competitors to world contests over the years.
"My father ploughed years ago, and I got involved in a local organisation here," he said.
"I started when I was 16, but have always just been interested in tractors and machinery."
He began ploughing in the late eighties, which led to him competing in his first world match in 1993 and since then has competed in 13 world matches.
He said that the process, when it's done properly, reduces the need for a lot of chemicals like Roundup.
"Using a two-furrow mouldboard plough, the idea is to turn the soil over and bury all the weeds and grass to create a weed free seed bed," he said.
"You need good attention to detail and be able to drive straight, as most of the aspects are judged on your straightness.
Weed control and furrow uniformity were also critical skills needed to impress judges for the competition.
"A contest plot is 100 metres by 20, and you have three hours to plough it. The opening split, crown, general ploughing and finish are some of the different aspects that are judged," he said.
Despite the interest in his region and "quite a big following" in Australia, the ploughing tradition is even stronger throughout Europe, where farmers put ploughing skills to use nearly every day.
Mr Loughridge will also be using borrowed equipment, which will put him "behind the eight ball", as most other competitors will be using their own equipment.
"There is a very good fellowship in ploughing and we all share very similar interests in agriculture, and it gets me to meet many people from a lot of different countries in the industry," he said.
Back home, Mr Loughridge uses his mouldboard ploughing skills to produce maize and brassica crops for his dairy cows.
"You can pretty much create a good weed free seed bed in one pass," he said.
The World Ploughing Championships will be held in Latvia on October 13 and 14.
