Shearing showdown returns in fine style
Digger Balme is no stranger to shearing.
He’s also no stranger to the New Zealand Shearing Championships in the King Country town of Te Kuiti, having competed in them for 36 years.
The three-day event took a break last year because of Covid19 but competitor numbers have been strong across both the wool handling and shearing heats this year.
Balme, 56, was entered in the Open Class competition at the weekend and spoke to the Waikato Times just before the quarter-finals.
The Otorohanga local said he entered the event in 1985, the first year it was held. He’s been in every one held since and said the competition not being held last year was a bit of a blow.
Throughout the years, he’s made 11 open finals, and said he keeps entering because he loves it.
Since the shearing championships first started, he said there hadn’t been a lot of change. ‘‘You just have to get up there and shear as fast and clean as you can.’’
Balme said while he’s still qualifying and enjoying the event, he’ll keep competing.
He has a son on the autism spectrum who also loves shearing and coming to the events. ‘‘It’s probably one of the main reasons I still come to shows, he’s just hooked on it.’’
Antz Bryant, living in Te Kuiti, has been coming to Te Kuiti’s show since 1993 when he was competing as a shearer.
A back injury pushed him out of shearing but he’s still here every year as he now works in the gear side of the industry.
Bryant, who owns V8 Shearing Combs, said while he worked exclusively with one shearer at this event, a lot of people in the competition used his combs.
After shearing for 20 years, he was well known for his gear, so when he could not compete any more a few guys asked him to help with combs, and his business grew from them.
Bryant said he is dyslexic and after leaving school at 16, he went straight into a shearing shed. Creating his combs business helped to keep him in the industry.
‘‘I love this industry. It’s in your DNA.’’
He said in these competitions, gear was really important.
‘‘It’s paramount. If you’re not using the right comb for the right sheep, you can get in a lot of trouble, and you aren’t going to advance as far as you probably could have.’’
New Zealand Shearing Championships chief referee Mark Barrowcliffe, of Te Ku¯ iti, said previously there were about 3000 sheep brought in for the three-day event. Most had been sourced locally, while the merino sheep had come from Alexandra in the South Island.
More than 270 shearers and wool handlers were expected to have taken part by Saturday.
The shearing championships coincided with Te Kuiti’s Great New Zealand Muster to celebrate its claim to be the shearing capital of New Zealand.
Food stalls and arts and crafts all clambered for a dry spot.
The Wearable Arts competition was held, with the annual Running Of The Sheep event taking place at 2pm, despite the downpours.
While the sheep had a good start, they turned around and started running back towards the pen. Shepherds and their dogs got them under control, and the race finished as normal.