The Bhuja Boar Breeders entered a duck into a competition at the A&P Show and won.

He was the rank outsider, raised by a group of rugby playing lads but destined for grandeur.

Jorge Bhuja startled the poultry scene by winning a best-in-class title ahead of perfectly preened pure breeds and some of the best-known birds in the industry at one of the country's premier agricultural shows.

"We had a bit of a look at the duck schedule form last year and it was wide open for attack .. not a lot of entries," his owner, Hamish Stace, said at Thursday's New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF Meet Jorge, the class-winning duck.

"We've definitely ruffled a few feathers; the establishment is not particularly happy. We've shown a crossbred duck – that's a major no-no – but that duck is a fine animal and you can't take that away from it."

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Stace, the duck convener of a group dubbed the Bhuja Boar Breeders, bought the 2-year-old appleyard Indian runner crossbreed for about $50 from a breeder in Geraldine and immediately saw his potential.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF Tom Cunningham, left, Scott Black, Hamish Stace, Becs Odering, Nick Bell, and Sam Sidey, the Bhuja Boar Breeders, have found success at the NZ Agricultural Show again.

"He's a really fine duck. I wouldn't have taken him home if he wasn't first place material."

Stace said he contacted three breeders before one agreed to sell to him. Most feared he wouldn't be skilled enough to care for it, others bumped their prices up to make sure he wouldn't slaughter the bird for meat, he said.

"It's such a political scene. We were shut out to begin with, we couldn't get an in to purchase some breeding material so I had to go a bit further afield."

The group specialises in pig farming, winning third place at the show with pig Steineken in 2016, but wanted to "disrupt the status quo" on the duck scene.

Stace said rivals were quick to slam the team's efforts, with another contestant claiming the bird should "have its neck wrung".

Christchurch Poultry, Bantam and Pigeon Club chicken breeder Sarah Wyllie said she had never heard of a crossbred bird winning at a regional or national level and the society only allowed "heritage", pedigree and purebred animals at its events.

"Usually if someone tried to enter a crossbreed someone would tap on their shoulder and let them know that it's not appropriate, but on the day it's the judges decision and perhaps they have more relaxed guidelines at the show."

She said a national syndicate had outlined guidelines for the "ideal bird", and mixing bird breeds meant it was impossible to pit birds against each other.

"I can see how showers coming from the poultry exhibition world would be annoyed."

Fellow Bhuja Boar breeder Scott Black said the competition got tougher each year, with the number of pig entries sky-rocketing and more teams dressing in matching speciality suits, shirts and ties for their presentations in the ring. Though they missed out on a placing this year, they were pleased to have presented such a hearty beast to the judges, Black said.

"In 2016, we had a good pig but we didn't feed him enough so he needed more fattening up. This year we've shown a much better pig, the quality is just outstanding."

"They'll probably bring a bit more heat next year and we'll just have to respond. We can respond and we will," Stace said.

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