Teamster Aleks Berzins has scored a back-to-back win in The Golden Plough and can next be seen with his horse team at the Barellan Good Old Days Festival on 2-4 October.

Aleks will be not only ploughing but showing off his other talents as a horse master and why he is rated among the top horse teamsters in the world.

Sitting on a rusty horse-drawn scarifier, Aleks Berzins is farming the land in the same way his grandfather did.

The 36-year-old, from Exeter in the NSW Southern Highlands, breeds Australian draught horses, using them in every part of his farming operations.

“We really like to keep it traditional,” Mr Berzins said.

“Everything from ploughing, harrowing paddocks, sowing, cutting hay and stripping-off a crop.”

He owns more than 50 drought horses.

Mr Berzins said a part of the farm was prepared for cropping using a single furrow plough.

“We do a section of the farm every year and if the conditions are right, it’s a pretty nice, peaceful thing to do,” he said.

He said the horses enjoyed the farm work as much as he did.

“They are herd animals, they do like to work together, and they really enjoy what they’re doing,” he said.

Mr Berzins said using heavy horses and antique equipment was not as quick as modern day farming practices but believed it had other benefits.

“The way the soil is turned over with horses in general is slower and I think it’s better for the soil,” he said.

“You’re using it more in an organic way, turning [the soil] over with a moldboard plough or scarifying the paddock to knock the weeds.”

He said working with a team of horses involved time and patience.

“They’re not like a tractor – you can't just put a key in," he said.

“When you’re working multiple, say a team of eight [horses], they’ve all got different personalities, so putting them in places where they are happy is important.”

Mr Berzins developed his interest in heavy horses by working with his grandfather, Sidney Samuels.

“It’s nice to go out and plough a paddock that I remember him ploughing and it certainly keeps his memory alive,” he said.

Mr Berzins is one of the wagon drivers, known as teamsters, behind a record-breaking event that involved 62 heavy horses being harnessed to pull a wagon at Barellan in the NSW Riverina.

He trained 30 horses in the mega-team, controlling the lead horses using voice commands from the wagon.

“Following behind a small horse team on the farm is different to seeing 62 horses out in front of you,” Mr Berzins said. 

“It’s something I will never forget … I’m proud of the horses and what they have achieved.”