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Virginia woman in World Champs in New Zealand

For the past few years Fluvanna County resident Maggie Pessino has competed in the World Sheep Shearing Competition. "The competitors all have to shear a set amount of sheep," said Pessino. "They'll go through and try to sheer the sheep as fast and as efficiently as they can; and they'll be judged off of the cleanliness of their sheep and how well they're shorn and how fast they were able to do it." The World Championships are to be held in Invercargill, New Zealand. Maggie and six others fro...

Stadium Southland officials take on logistical nightmare with frantic couple of weeks

ILT Stadium Southland general manager Nigel Skelt says the next 15 days will provide the biggest logistical challenge they have encountered in the venue's 17-year history. Skelt conceded they may have 'bitten off more than they can chew' in terms of the next couple of weeks but was confident they will make it work and Invercargill will benefit from it. The frantic couple of weeks will start on Thursday with the New Zealand Track Cycling Championships at the SIT Velodrome which will run through...

Shearing champs labour of love falling into place

"Imagine the biggest roller coaster in the world and being on it." That is how World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships organising committee chairman Tom Wilson describes preparing for the event in Invercargill next week.''Some things have happened easily and the next minute you've got to really dig in with something a bit more challenging. ''It is a bit of a labour of love but you work through it. Everything's falling into place,'' he said. Mr Wilson, shearing great Sir David Fagan and ...

Warnest vies for third World title

Gun Willalooka shearer Shannon Warnest is in the form of his life, hoping to clinch a third world championship next month. On Sunday, he heads to New Zealand for the World Shearing & Wool Handling Championships in Invercargill from February 8 to 11. In the past three months he has shorn 10,000 sheep, including two trips to King Island shearing Corriedales, plus time at Coola Station, Kongorong, on composite-type sheep, ready for the challenge of the NZ Romneys and crossbreeds. "I have...

Smith takes title after classic Taihape final

Story courtesy of Shearing Sports NZ. In most people's minds reigning World Champion shearer Rowland Smith had a point to prove when he stepped up for the final of the Taihape A and P Show Open shearing championship today. But it wasn't just one point – it was more than four of them as the surprise omission from the New Zealand team for next month's World championships in Invercargill comfortably beat a six-man field of the World's best, including black-singlet team members Nathan Stratfor...

Taihape set to kick-off big weekend in North Island

It's all go for the first of two big pre-World Championships weekends in the North Island, with the Taihape A and P Show Shears starting at 8.30am today (Saturday). With Open, Senior, Intermediate and Junior shearing and Open, Senior and Junior woolhandling starting at 8.30am, it's the first of two A-grade North Island shows over the weekend. Competition in the same grades will take place at the Rotorua A and P Show at Ngongotaha on Sunday, starting at 9am. There are two other shows on Saturd...

Shearers hunt for best sheep in the land

Four and a half thousand sheep are being hand picked from Southland farms for the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championship in Invercargill next month. Shearing contractor and former New Zealand shearing representative, Dion Morrell, is working with double world champion Alan MacDonald to head hunt the best sheep for the job. The competition needs second shear sheep, full wool year-old sheep and lambs. Mr Morrell said it was a big job because it was crucial to find the best sheep possible....

Mudge family jet off to World Shearing Champs

A father and son sheep shearing team has jetted off to New Zealand this week to represent England in the World Sheep Shearing Championships. Andrew Mudge, 36, and his father George Mudge, 69, who live on a farm at Collaton, just outside Tavistock, are two of the six competitors that make up the England team. This is not the first time that either of them have taken part in the world championships, having represented their country on numerous occasions. Read the full story here....

A chat with Hamish Mitchell

Hamish Mitchell returns to New Zealand as the reigning Team World Champion, won with Scottish team mate Gavin Mutch in Gorey Ireland in mid 2014. Now the man from Lochearnhead is back for the first time in ten years and he is ready to let his handpiece do the talking. We cornered him for a few words last weekend at the NZ Crossbred Lamb Shearing Championships in Winton, where the likable Scotsman was first off the board in the Open final, showing he will be at the sharp end of things when the...

A chat with Mel Morris of Australia

Mel Morris is lining up for her third World Championships next month. The Tasmanian woolhandler is a trainer for Australian Wool Innovation and you can tell how good she is at her job by some of her thoughts on how she is preparing for the 2017 World Championships. We caught up with her at the Northern Southland Community Shears in Castlerock last week. ...

NZ's close-knit woolhandling family

Some say it takes talent to truly recognise talent. And when it has a family connection it has extra meaning. Joel Henare is on top of his game after the 2012 World Champion won both the Northern Southland and Southland Shears Open Woolhandling titles over the weekend. He impressed his peers, including fellow competitor Pagan Karauria, with this heartfelt exchange on the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships' Facebook page, earlier this week ... ...

USA team ready for World Champs

The nation's best sheep shearers and wool handlers are headed to New Zealand next month to compete in the Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool Handling Championship. Five Americans: Loren Opstedahl, Piedmont, S.D., Leann Brimmer, Biddle, Mont., Alex Moser, Lester, Iowa, Kevin Ford, Charlemont, Mass., and Maggie Passino, Scottsville, Virginia will represent the U.S. at the world championships. Each of them qualified for the U.S. team by garnering points at nationwide competitions or winning th...

Farm Day Friday - Episode 3

Our wonderful World Championship venue, ILT Stadium Southland, is getting right in the spirit as we count down to World Champs. Each week their fearless leader Nigel Skelt gets his "farmer on," so for your viewing pleasure, here is Episode three of farm Day Friday....

A chat with Ian Jones of Wales

Ian Jones the Welsh National Champion has made it to Southland to prepare for the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships. He earned his spot in the team by being crowned Champion Shearer of Wales at the Royal Welsh Show in August. Having previously come close to winning the competition before, it was his first national title, leading to his first trip to a World Championship. We chatted with Ian at the New Zealand Crossbred Lamb Shearing Championships in Winton on Saturday and f...

Germany's top blade shearer a cut above in Southland

Shearing sheep is not something much associated with Germany, but Jan Juppe is changing that. He was in action at the New Zealand Crossbred Lamb Shearing Championships in Winton in the weekend. Video courtesy of Nicole Sharp - Otago Daily Times/South Today. ...

Clare's favourite for World Champs is clear

We are loving finding great homes for great prizes this week. Clare Shaw of Invercargill law firm French Burt Partners, was stoked to win a Sir David Fagan-signed singlet and tickets to World Championship night. Turns out she has an extra reason to head along as one of French Burt's clients is one Mr Nathan Stratford of Invercargill! Clare tells us the singlet may be a little big for her, but it is likely to end up framed in her son's bedroom. Enjoy the World Champs Clare ... and you don't h...

Smith proves to be man for all seasons

Story by Doug Laing, Shearing Sports New Zealand. Rowland Smith continued his relentless march towards a century of Open-class wins when he completed a weekend double with a three-point winning margin over runner-up Gavin Mutch in the Horowhenua Shears Open final on Sunday. Third to finish the four-man, 20-sheep final in another showdown between the last two World title winners, Hastings shearer and 2014 World champion Smith made-up for a near 2pts time deficit and small board-points deficit ...

Young woolhandler prepares for World Champs

Article and image courtesy of Brittany Pickett - The Southland Times. UPDATE - NOW INCLUDES VIDEO OF CHARIS BELOW Central Otago 11-year-old Charis Morrell will represent Switzerland in the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill next month. Morrell may be young, but she has grown up with a family of champion shearers and woolhandlers, as the daughter of former New Zealand shearer Dion Morrell, and Swiss-born Gabriela Schmidt-Morrell. The Alexandra schoolgirl and her...

Congratulations Aurora

Aurora Christensen is one excited lady. And one lucky wife! Husband Mike was rung this afternoon by host of The Country radio farming programme, Jamie Mackay and Sir David Fagan and told the good news that his name had been drawn from the hundreds of entries in our Ultimate World Champs Experience. Turns out that Mike had been asked (actually told) to enter by his other half and with Mike needing to juggle work commitments to make it south for the World Champs, Aurora wasted no time in invitin...

VIDEO - NZ Crossbred Lamb Shearing Final (Full Final)

Watch full coverage of the NZ Crossbred Lamb Shearing Final, held in Winton on Saturday 21 January 2017, featuring Nathan Stratford, Darin Forde, Dion Morrell, Casey Bailey, Brett Roberts & Hamish Mitchell....

VIDEO: Southland Shears Highlights

Action from the NZ Crossbred Lamb Shearing Championships held at the Winton A&P Show on Saturday 21 January 2017...

VIDEO - Northern Southland Shears Highlights

Action from the NZ Full-wool Championships at the Northern Southland Community Shears held in Five Rivers and Castlerock on Friday 20th January...

Stratford - shearing his success

Article by Rebecca Moore - The Southland Times. He is modest but that does not mean he is not capable of winning the world shearing championships. Nathan Stratford had a winning streak at the Lumsden and Winton shearing competitions on Friday and Saturday. Stratford took out first place in the open final in both competitions. "It was good to have a win," he said. At the Northern Southland Shears in Lumsden on Friday, Stratford won the open final of 20 sheep. "The sheep were strong and it ...

Champion schooled in some hard sheds

Article by Sally Rae - Otago Daily Times. As a youngster growing up in Gisborne, champion woolhandler Joel Henare struggled with mainstream schooling.He left school when he was about 11 and continued his studies through correspondence. Sometimes he accompanied his mother, who worked as a shedhand, and would "help out a bit and play around" in the woolsheds. "School wasn't really for me, not back then. I didn't really like school," Henare recalled. By the time he was 12, he was entering woo...

Rowland Smith continues winning ways at Wairoa

Reigning World, Golden Shears and New Zealand championships Open shearing titles holder Rowland Smith scored his 25th win in 12 months with victory in the Wairoa A and P Show's Open shearing final on Saturday. Dating back to his Northern Southland Community Shears win on January 21 last year, the Maraekakaho gun has won 23 finals in New Zealand and two on tour in the UK with New Zealand teammate and Napier shearer John Kirkpat rick, who was runner-up on Saturday. One of the youngest shearers t...