Southern farmer wins deer award

Chris Petersen, a deer farmer from Fiordland and now South Canterbury, is the winner of the Deer Industry's 2014 Matuschka Award.

The award, which acknowledges an outstanding behind-the-scenes contribution to the industry, was presented by the award’s founder Murray Matuschka at the annual Deer Conference in Methven.

Petersen was chairman of the Deer Farmers’ Association Fiordland Branch for 13 years (until 2011) and during that time led the group with humour and with a focus on building community spirit among southern deer farmers. He established a velvet competition and set up a fund-raising scheme for the branch, buying and selling weaner deer and grazing them on members’ farms.

Known as ‘Yeti’ by his friends, Peterson moved from crayfishing, deer stalking and possuming into farming deer, buying a 240 hectare farm near Manapouri. Petersen relocated three years ago to an easier property in South Canterbury where he still farms deer. His Highden Deer Park stags are highly regarded for their antlers, both for trophies and velvet. He is a regular contributor to the industry eletter Stagline and is known for his photography of deer.

Chris Petersen was unanimously nominated for the Matuschka Award by the Fiordland branch committee of the Deer Farmers Association.

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