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World Champs fever in the air

The first hints of World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships fever in Southland were in the air as New Zealand team members Nathan Stratford and Joel Henare cleaned-up in two major scene-setters at the weekend. Just three weeks out from the 40th anniversary World championships, in Invercargill on February 8-11, host-town shearer Nathan Stratford and Gisborne woolhandler Joel Henare won their respective Open finals at the Northern Southland Community Shears on longwool near Lumsden on Friday...

International class at Wairoa

Article and image courtesy of Doug Laing, Shearing Sports NZ The Wairoa A and P Show is expected to have even more of an international flavour today as French shearers Loic Leygonie and Thimoleon Resneau try to get a first win in New Zealand ahead of the World championships in Invercargill next month. They are scheduled to have a match against Wairoa show selection. The event will also feature New Zealand World Championship team member Johnny Kirkpatrick, after the master shearer was force...

Henare and Stratford sound warnings

New Zealand team members Nathan Stratford and Joel Henare sounded a warning to other World Championship hopefuls ahead of next month's 40th anniversary championships in Invercargill following comprehensive wins in the open shearing and woolhandling competitions at the Northern Southland Community Shears held in Five Rivers yesterday. Henare (Gisborne) continued his recent domination at the event, winning his third open title in four years, thanks to a strong all-round performance in the final....

VIDEO - Northern Southland Shears Open Shearing Final

View archived Facebook Live stream of today's Northern Southland Shears Opening Shearing Final featuring Brett Roberts, Paerata Abraham, Ivan Scott (Ireland), Troy Pyper and Nathan Stratford....

AUDIO - Nathan Stratford & Joel Henare

New Zealand representatives Joel Henare and Nathan Stratford claimed wins in the Open Woolhandling and Shearing competitions at the Northern Southland Shears today. They both chatted with Nick Jeffrey to discuss their preparations for the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships....

Remembering 1984

World Championship Organising Committee Chairman Tom Wilson became the first non-New Zealand shearer to win a World Individual Shearing title at Bath & West in England in 1984. He followed that, 12 years later by claiming the World Team's title with Scottish teammate George Bayne in Masterton. He relives his memories of his historic victory. "My main memory is standing there with the trophy after competing against the best people in the world. We were the underdogs really. New Zealand w...

Profile - Noel Joyce (Ireland)

Name: Noel Joyce Discipline: Blade shearing Age: 32 years old Address: Mayo, Ireland Years of experience: Grew up on a farm in Finney, Co. Mayo which is mostly sheep. Got an interest in shearing at a young age when he watched his father shear with the blades. Has his own farm and is farming full time. Qualified for numerous All Ireland finals coming 2nd in the 2016 Competition and also done very well in the Irish Circuit in 2016 which secured his team position. Noel also enjoys ...

VIDEO - World shearing record smashed

NZ Herald - They converged from different corners of New Zealand - at Waitara Station - a high country property north-west of Napier. Eight hours, 1611 shorn sheep later, Luke Mullins, Eru Weeds and James Mack became world record holders. ...

Biggest month of Southland shearing

Article by Doug Laing - Shearing Sports NZ The biggest month of shearing sports in Southland and Otago gets under way with the Northern Southland Community Shears on Friday The shears feature shearing events at the new venue of Lowther Downs (874 Five Rivers-Lumsden Highway) while the woolhandling has been moved to former shearing competition venue North Range (483 Sutherland Rd, Castle Rock). The shearing starts at 7.30am and the woolhandling at 8am, and will be followed the next day by the...

Shearing on the Falklands

Ex-pat New Zealander and Falkland Island Team Manager Jack Wilson gives us an overview on country's team for next month's World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships and gives us an insight in to farming on the Falklands. Lee Molkenbuhr and Paul Phillips are our shearers and Reba Peck and Pilar Castro are our two woolhandlers. We normally have a competition over the Christmas holidays and the first two residents earn selection for the World Champs. The selection event was held earlier thi...

Win the Ultimate World Champs' Experience on The Country

Thanks to our mates on The Country, we have the chance for you to join us at the history making 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill from February 8 to 11. A six-strong New Zealand team will take on competitors from 32 countries around the world. Thanks to Venture Southland, Air New Zealand, 388 Tay Motel, Avis/Budget Group and Bill Richardson Transport World you can be in Invercargill to watch the fleeces fly! Just click here to fill ...

World Champs battle out Tauranga final

Reigning World champion Rowland Smith took another step towards 100 wins in Open-class shearing when he beat 2012 World champion Gavin Mutch, of Scotland, at the Tauranga Show yesterday. Denied a World title defence next month after just missing out on a place in the New Zealand team in a selection series final in November, and last week divested of a World Record he and brother Doug had held for six years, Smith won the Tauranga final despite being only third to finish. First to finish was Te...

Ticket Update - January 15

Tickets are selling fast, get in now so you are not disappointed. The Friday and Saturday finals nights are not to be missed. The Speed Shear on Thursday night will have up to 120 of the worlds quickest shearers on show. ILT Stadium Southland will be buzzing with the top gun shearers and woolhandlers from around the world along with the very talented entertainers, Jody Direen (Friday night) and Jason Kerrison (Saturday night). Invercargill will be pumping, so pack the car, pack your bags and ...

World Council thankful of southern support

A record attendance of 32 countries at next month's World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships points to a strong future for the sport. That's the view of World Shearing Council Chairman Greg Herrick. "Traditionally in the southern Hemisphere it's a big distance for a lot of countries to travel to New Zealand and Australia, so to have a record number coming is absolutely fantastic. The mass of our member countries and are in Europe. There's a huge number of sheep and shearing competitors in ...

Smith wins North Island Speedshear title

Article by Doug Laing - Shearing Sports New Zealand Reigning World, Golden Shears and New Zealand Open shearing champion Rowland Smith turned his hand triumphantly to the short-form competition stage when he won the first North Island Speedshear Championship from an international field in Te Kuiti last night. Several hundred people packed the Waitete Rugby Club for the event which attracted competitors from at least seven countries as New Zealand gears-up for the 40th Anniversary World sheari...

French revolution in Tauranga

Story by Doug Laing - Shearing Sports NZ Two French shearers in New Zealand for next month's World Championships will face the best of the rest in an unofficial international match at the Tauranga Show on Sunday. Loic Leygonie and Thimoleon Resneau have been preparing in the King Country and are looking forward to the Gate Pa racecourse show, where Leygonie's brother, Jeremy, was one of two shearers from overseas to win lower grade finals at the show last year. It's been a happy hunting grou...

Profile - Enkhnasan Chuluunbaatar (Mongolia)

Supplied by Zoe Leetch The Mongolian team consists of one machine shearer, Enkhnasan Chuluunbaatar. Enkhnasan (Nasa) is from a nomadic herding background in Bulgan province, Mongolia. His family's herd consists of several hundred sheep and goats, along with their horses and cattle. Most herders would have at least a couple of hundred sheep, and generally each herder and their extended family will shear their own sheep. They use large scissors (not blades) to shear the sheep, usually tyin...

Shearing stalwart leads the way

Article by Farmers Weekly Tom Wilson will have almost completed the full circle when the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships begin in Invercargill on February 8. A Scotsman now living in south Otago, Wilson is chairman of the committee organising the event but is himself a former world individual and team shearing champion. In addition he has missed attending or competing in only two world championships since the first was held in 1977 at the Bath and West Show in England. Read the...

Aussie legend goes in search of historic third title

He has shorn all over the world, including the famous Waldorf Hotel on Park Avenue, New York. He's won two World Championships and has a newly-opened exhibition on his shearing career at his local Naracoorte Museum. So, it should be no surprise to find Australian World Championship shearing representative Shannon Warnest is a cheerleader for the wool industry. "I've shorn in 18 countries and we're still looking at more. There aren't too many other industries that can give you that kind of oppo...

World competitors begin to migrate south

Article and images courtesy of The Southland Times/Fairfax Media A month out from the competition, competitors for the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships are migrating south in preparation for the big event. German team member Jan Juppe arrived in New Zealand on Christmas Day, but making it to New Zealand is a tale of hard work and determination. Competing in the blade shearing, woolhandling and intermediate machine shearing, Juppe said he felt like competing in the championships ...

Preparations well in hand a month from Champs

A month out from the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships, organising Committee Chairman Tom Wilson is a happy man. "I'm very comfortable with where our preparations are at. We are on target and on schedule. Everybody has a job to do and they are all doing it well," he said. The Championships have a 40-year history, dating back to when it was first held at Bath and West in England in 1977. Wilson's involvement stretches nearly as far. The Scotsman contested his first World Champi...

Let the fleeces fall fast

Article first appeared in the Otago Daily Times on 7 January Invercargill is gearing up to host the world shearing and woolhandling championships next month. Agribusiness reporter Sally Rae catches up with local lad Nathan Stratford, who will represent New Zealand in front of a hometown crowd. Nathan Stratford had been looking forward to sitting down and enjoying a beer over Christmas. But a successful campaign on the shearing board at the Canterbury A and P Show in November ended that plan. ...

Shearing: An industry of change

Article first appeared in The Southland Times on 7 January It's not a calling which beckons a lot of people, but for those who are drawn to the buzzing of clippers sliding their way over a sheep, shearing is a craft they are dedicated to. Sheep numbers peaked in the early 80s at 70 million, but in recent years that number has dropped closer to 30 million. As the sheep numbers have declined, so have the numbers of people shearing them. CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE...

Lead-up events start next weekend

Story and image courtesy of Doug Laing - Shearing Sports New Zealand With a World shearing championships in the South Island for the first time less than a month away Peninsula Shears organiser Phil Bremner faces a dilemma in not knowing how many more competitors he can expect for his show next Saturday (January 14). The shears, at the Duvauchelle A and P Show, on Banks Peninsula, will provide one of several opportunities for early arrivals to get in some competition time on New Zealand shee...

Profile - George Graham (Ireland)

Name: George Graham. Address: Wexford, Ireland. Children: Two sons & three daughters – David, Georgina, Brendan, Caitriona&Clodagh. Years of experience: It's 52 years since I sheared my first sheep. Best Competition Results: Runner-up at The All Ireland on two occasions & a number of other wins & placings at various competitions internationally. Holder of Irish Two Stand & Single Stand Ewe Records. Also been the All Ireland Wool Handling Champion on a numb...