Shearing It Around - The Busiest Week Of The Season From North To South

More than 200 shearers and woolhandlers are expected to be in action during the busiest weekend on the Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar from Friday to Saturday.

The competition will be spread the length of the country, from Kaikohe in the north, and include the Northern Southland Community Shears’ New Zealand fullwool shearing and woolhandling championships in a woolshed near Lumsden on Friday and the Southland Shears’ national crossbred lambs shearing and woolhandling championships at the Winton A and P Show on Saturday.

The other events are the shearing-only events at the Kaikohe, Wairoa and Golden Bay shows on Saturday and the Horowhenua Shearing Championships in Levin on Sunday.

Shearers will also compete at several speed shears in Southland, and in the North Island at the Wairoa Shears at Kauhouroa on Friday evening, and on Saturday the new YMP Spirts event at Paroa Station, near Raupunga.

The busy weekend will be followed on Monday by an attempt on the solo men’s nine-hour lambs shearing record by Bay of Plenty shearer Jamie Skiffington at a woolshed in Southern Hawke’s Bay.

It’ll be a weekend of contrast in Southland, from the shearing of ewes carrying as much as a year’s wool at the fullwool championships on Friday to 30-32kg lambs with barely six months’ wool at Winton the next day.

Shearing Sports New Zealand Southland-Otago delegate Michael Hogan says there will be particular interest from the Open-class competitors, who next month start protracted shearing and woolhandling series’ to decide the New Zealand team members for the 2026 World championships in Masterton.

The series’ include next year’s Lumsden and Winton event and competitors will want to familiarise themselves with the types of sheep being shorn at the shows and gain an edge for what he expects to be an even more competitive schedule than usual.

He says the vagaries of the season have meant that young sheep like the 1150 lambs crutched and ready for Winton are behind average growth for the time of year, with less weight and wool.

But the shearing season is in full swing in the area, which could impact on the numbers competing at the shows, if they put work ahead of the sport.

He said as much as 50 per cent of the shearers working in the region are from the North Island or overseas.

“With two shows in two days (and national shearing and woolhandling titles available from Junior to Open class) the turnout can be good,” he said. “But they’ve only had 10 days back at work, and they haven’t got sick of it yet. Give them another week and they might be looking for an excuse to take the day off.”

Last year, the major Open-class titles were shared.

In the shearing, Invercargill’s Nathan Stratford won the fullwool title at Lumsden for a seventh time since 2002, while Masterton shearer Paerata Abraham won his first the lambs title, at Winton.

Two-times World champion Joel Henare, from Gisborne, also won the Lumsden woolhandling title for a seventh time, while Pagan Rimene won the Winton lambs title, also for a seventh time.

The biggest of the other competitions is expected to be the Wairoa Shears, which have for the second year in a row been moved from the town’s A and P Show because of the impact of bad weather – about 500mm of rain in the last five weeks – making it difficult for sheep-truck access.

The shears will take place in the five grades from Novice to Open at Kauhouroa Station, between Frasertown and Marumaru, with up to 100 shearers taking part, including many from the UK.

It includes the first round of the new Te Whiringa Senior Shearing Circuit, aimed at strengthening numbers in the Senior grade in the North Island, with 10 competitions in nine weeks and a final at the Waimarino Shears in Raetihi on March 15.

By contrast, the Kaikohe show shears will merge Novice, Junior and Intermediate shearers into one event, with handicaps based on the number of sheep to be shorn per grade.

Most shearers and woolhandlers competing in Southland will compete on both days, while some of those competing in the North Island will shear at the Wairoa Shears and the n travel about 360km to shear in Levin the next day.

Notes:

Competition details and contacts.

January 17 (Friday): Northern Southland Community Shears (NZ Full wool shearing and woolhandling championships), at 874 Five Rivers Lumsden Highway (State Highway 6), Lowther 9793.

Start time: Woolhandling 7.30am, Shearing 11am.

Entries: On-line book.elitewoolindustrytraining.com Close January 16, 5pm. Shearing – Junior $30, Intermediate $40, Senior $45, Open $50; Woolhandling – Junior $25, Senior $30, Open $35.

Contact/Enquiries: Sonya Taylor 021884972, bruceandsonya@xtra.co.nz

Circuits: NZ Shears Shearing Circuit (Open); South Island Woolhandling Circuit (Open, Senior, Junior).

January 18 (Saturday): Kaikohe A, P and H Show (shearing only), at Kaikohe A and P Showgrounds, 2 Ngawha Rd, Kaikohe 0472.

Start time: 10.30am.

Entries: On the day. Novice-Intermediate Combined Handicap $10, Senior $20, Open $25, Veterans $10.

First prize (value): Combined Hcp $$100, Senior $159, Open $350, Veterans $50..

Contact/Enquiries: Malcolm Henley (09) 4011963, email kaikohe.show@yahoo.co.nz

Circuits: ANZ Northland Provincial Shearing Championship.

.January 18 (Saturday): Wairoa A and P Show (shearing only), at Kauhoura Staion, Tiniroto Rd, Frasertown.

Start time: 8.30am.

Entries: On the day. Novice $10, Junior $15, Intermediate $20, Senior $25, Open $30, Veterans $10.

First prize (value): Novice $0, Junior $100, Intermediate $150, Senior $250, Open $500, Veterans $50.

Contact/Enquiries: Paul Swann, (06) 8377660, email sonya@gisborne.net.nz

Circuits: Te Whiringa Senior Shearing Circuit (Round 1).

January 18 (Saturday): Golden Bay A and P Show (shearing only), at Takaka.

185 Aaran Creek Road, Upper Rakaka 7183.

Start time: 10.30am.

Entry: On the day. Junior $10, Intermediate $15, Senior $20, Open $25.

First prize (value): Junior $120, Intermediate $200, Senior $250, Open $850.

Contact: Nick Nalder 035259475, goldenbayshow@gmail.com

January 18 (Saturday): Southland Shears (New Zealand Crossbred Lambs shearing and woolhandling championships), at Winton A and P Show, Winton Racecourse, Racecourse Road, Winton 9783.

Woolhandling 8am, Shearing 10am.

Entries: On the day. Shearing – Junior $20, Intermediate $30, Senior $35, Open $45; Woolhandling – Junior $15, Senior $20, Open $25.

First prize (value): Shearing – Junior $150, Intermediate $250, Senior $500, Open $1500; Woolhandling – Junior $150, Senior $250, Open $500.

Contact: Debbie Lee 0274282377, email Debbie.lee1966@outlook.com.

Circuits: NZ Shears Shearing Circuit (Open); South Island Woolhandling Circuit (Open, Senior, Junior).

January 19 (Sunday): Horowhenua A, P and I Show (shearing only), 33 Victoria Street, Levin 5510.

Start time: 9am.

Entries: On the day. Novice free, Junior $10, Intermediate $15, Senior $20, Open $30.

First prize: TBC.

Contact/Enquiries: Donald Bryant 0272819306, donbryant.1111@gmail.com. .

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