GOLDEN SHEARS 2020 feature

www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 20, 2020

GOLDEN SHEARS

60

25

MASTERTON WED 4 THUR 5 FRI 6 SAT 7

MARCH

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Thursday, February 20, 2020 Wairarapa Times-Age

GOLDEN SHEARS

MASTERTON

2020

60

YEARS

PROGRAMME of events Wednesday 4 March

FREE ENTRY AFTERNOON 12.30PM Novice Wool Handling Heats Junior Wool Handling Heats Novice Shearing Heats Junior Shearing Heats EVENING 6.40PM Student Shearing Challenge Novice Shearing Semi-ÿ nal Novice Wool Handling Semi-ÿ nal Junior Wool Handling Semi-ÿ nal Novice Wool Handling Final

Novice Shearing Final

Thursday 5 March ALL DAY Wool Pressing Heats.

Men’s, Women’s, Pairs & Novice MORNING 7.45AM Senior Wool Handling Heats Intermediate Shearing Heats Junior Shearing Semi-ÿ nal Senior Wool Handling Semi-ÿ nal AFTERNOON 12.40PM Intermediate Shearing Semi-ÿ nal Evergreens Shearing & Wool Handling Heats Senior Shearing Heats Evergreens Shearing & Wool Handling Semi-ÿ nals EVENING 6.40PM Blade Shearing Round 1 Senior Speed Shear Open Speed Shear

Friday 6 March

Saturday 7 March

MORNING 7.45AM Open Wool Handling Heats

MORNING 7.45AM Open Wool Handling Quarter-ÿ nal

Junior Wool Handling Final

Young Farmers Teams - Shearing & Wool Handling

Evergreens Shearing & Wool Handling Finals

Women’s Shearing Invitation Event

Blade Shearing Round 2 Wool Pressing, Men’s Singles Semi-ÿ nals

Young Farmers Shearing Blue Ribbon

Wool Pressing, Women’s Singles Final

Senior Shearing Semi-ÿ nal

Wool Pressing, Men’s Singles Final

Shearing Encouragement Invitation Event

AFTERNOON 12.40PM Junior Shearing Final

National Circuit Shearing Semi-ÿ nal

Intermediate Shearing Final

AFTERNOON 12.40PM NIWC Wool Handling Final

Open Shearing Heats

Senior Wool Handling ÿ nal

EVENING 6.40PM Pairs Wool Pressing Final

Maori/Pakeha Shearing Teams Senior Shearing Final

Open Shearing Top 30

Blade Shearing Challenge

Trans-Tasman Wool Handling Test

Open Wool Handling Semi-ÿ nal

Blades Shearing Final

Open Shearing Semi-ÿ nal EVENING 6.00PM National Circuit Shearing Final Trans-Tasman Shearing Test Open Wool Handling Final Open Shearing Final

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www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 20, 2020

FREE ENTRY Wednesday to kick off Golden Shears 2020 The world’s premier shearing and wool handling championship - the Golden Shears marks its 60TH anniversary this year.

This year Golden Shears 2020 will be a four-day event starting with free entry on Wednesday, sponsored by Trust House.

Featuring Novice and Junior heats, as well as a Student Shearing Challenge from 12.30pm, this is a great opportunity to get a taste of the exciting atmosphere of the Golden Shears.

Past champions and veterans of the Golden Shears have been invited to celebrate the 60th anniversary with the option of participating in the Open or Evergreens competitions or simply meeting up with old friends and rivals.

On Thursday night there will be an invitation mix and mingle at The Wool Shed shearing museum.

On Saturday evening at 9pm

You can experience the excitement of the Golden Shears for freeonWednesday.

when the Open Final has been completed, the ˜ oor of the War Memorial Stadium will be cleared with everyone welcome to remain and celebrate the 60th anniversary together.

Other highlights over the four days of competition include a Blade Shearing competition, “Evergreens” shearing, wool handling ÿ nals and Women’s Shearing Invitation event.

As at previous Golden Shears, there will be the Trans-Tasman Shearing Test, PGG Wrightson Wool National Circuit Final and the culmination of the event - the Open Final.

GOLDEN SHEARS

Over 400 competitors, National & International, will converge on Masterton for the four days of competition from Wednesday 4th to Saturday 7th of March.

Traditionally, Friday and Saturday night are spiced up with entertainment and this year is no exception with one-manband Juzzie Smith entertaining both indoors and out at various times throughout the event, The Shenanigans on Friday night, and Winsome Lost on Saturday.

MASTERTON

2020

Student Shearing Challenge 2019.

60

YEARS

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Thursday, February 20, 2020 Wairarapa Times-Age

GOLDEN SHEARS

MASTERTON

2020

60

YEARS

Original open ÿ nalist back for 60th anniversary Former Golden Shears competitors from throughout New Zealand will be making their way to this year’s event to mark its 60th anniversary.

the belly or crutch, making it a slower job.”

Among them will be Ian “Snow” Harrison, the last surviving ÿ nalist from the ÿ rst Open Shearing Final, held in 1961.

But one thing that has stayed the same is the hard work of the volunteers which makes the Golden Shears tick, among them Ian who formerly was a South Island shearer representative on the Golden Shears committee.

Over the years Ian has been a regular visitor to the Golden Shears from his home in Invercargill, ÿ rst as a competitor from 1961 to 1963, then as a judge in the mid-1970s, and more recently to watch the shearing and catch up with old friends.

Now 86, Ian remains in good health and even shears once a year, at the Edendale Vintage Machinery Club “Crank Up”.

The event itself has changed too, Ian says.

“Like everything else, it is more modern, with more sponsorship and bigger prize money.”

The success of the “Golden Shears are The ÿ nalists in the ÿ rst open shearing championship in 1961.

FROM LEFT: Mac Potae (Hawke’s Bay) fourth, Bing McDonald (Te Mata) third, Ian Harrison (Southland) sixth, Ivan Bowen (Te Puke) ÿ rst, Kevin Sarre (Australia) ÿ fth, Godfrey Bowen (Levin) second

“I do two or three lambs using the old portable shearing gear that was around when I started. I still manage okay. I take my time and make sure I do a good job. I don’t want to knock myself out.”

Ian did all his shearing around Southland - “We didn’t travel around like they do now” - with the aim of earning enough money to buy his own farm, which he did in 1965 in the Te Anau basin.

This is typical of Ian, who has always placed quality ahead of speed.

“I had a bit of success at local shows around Southland. We heard about the Golden Shears and a few of us thought we would go and have a look.”

When he competed in the 1961 ÿ nal, Ian achieved sixth place overall, but in terms of quality got the top points.

Competitive shearing has changed a lot since those days, he

says. “It is impossible to compare shearers then and now, it would be like comparing the All Blacks then and now.

“Today they are top athletes, just like an Olympic athlete. In our day you would shear and drink a lot of beer. These days they are at the gym and don’t touch any alcohol.”

One practical di° erence, Ian recalls, is “for the ÿ rst two or three Shears the sheep were not prepared. Nothing was taken o°

all the volunteers, which is amazing.

What spectators see is only a small percentage of what they do. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes.”

The ties that bind the shearers Ian once competed against remain strong too.

“I met guys at the ÿ rst Golden Shears who I still stay with when I am in the North Island. We have been friends ever since.”

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Thursday, February 20, 2020 Wairarapa Times-Age

JUZZIE GOLDEN SHEARS SMITH MASTERTON 2 0 2 0 Byron Bay’s one-man Y E A R S -band

Juzzie Smith

60

Past favourites The Shenanigans and Winsome Lost are returning to the Golden Shears for its 60th anniversary.

message of loving life. He has over 120 million views on social media and has topped the blues iTunes charts around the world.

Joining them this year is Juzzie Smith, a talented one-man band who will be playing inside and outside the War Memorial Stadium throughout the four days of competitions.

The Shenanigans

Based in Byron Bay, Australia, Juzzie’s unique style is bluesy/folk mixed into a groove of his own, marked by an amazing ability to play up to six instruments at once, combining the guitar, harmonica and juggling percussion. Juzzie’s one-man-band started when he became a father, he told Zigzag surÿ ng magazine last year.

“I was listening to Moby and how he used the repetition of blues samples with a big beat. I then tried this live on the streets with my roots approach. It was a success and I sold out of CDs every time I played live.”

Winsome Lost

Juzzie has had the honour of performing to both international and national crowds from Byron

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The Shenanigans have been based in Wairarapa for the past ÿ ve years and played the Golden Shears last year. This year they will be the non-shearing entertainment on Friday night.The band - Justin Reed, Jane Boyers, Maurice Phillips and Neha - are renowned for their good old Irishcountry-foot stomping music.

Winsome Lost, Saturday night’s Entertainment, have been playing their brand of renegade folk Americana for the past eight years. A lively concoction of ÿ ddle, banjo, mandolin, harp and rhythm, paired with soulful harmonies, they cover everyone from Johnny Cash and The Black Keys to Mumford and Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show.

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www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 20, 2020

Rare opportunity to see blade shearing at the Golden Shears There’s something mesmerising about watching a shearer blade shearing a sheep, as Allan Grant demonstrated in a small woolshed south of Masterton one morning tea break last week.

It is certainly a method of shearing close to his heart. “I enjoy blade shearing - it’s calmer and quieter.”

It might surprise some to learn that blade shearing is still carried on commercially in New Zealand, in the high country of the South Island where a small layer of wool is required to remain on the merino sheep.

That said, there are now electric shearing blades available that do the trick and these are now in common use.

But there are still shearers who prefer the old method, Allan says.

“They believe blades get a better staple of wool because the heat from the electric shears burn the tip of the ÿ bre.”

So it is not surprising that it will be mostly South Island shearers who will be coming to Masterton for the blade shearing competition at the Golden Shears 2020.

Among them are likely to be world champion blade shearers Allan Oldÿ eld and Tony Dobbs, both from South Canterbury.

Last July, Oldÿ eld, of Geraldine, won the individual title in Le Dorat in France, shortly after combining with his teammate Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, to win the teams’ title.

Dobbs had previously won the individual title at the 1988 World championships in Masterton, two years before Oldÿ eld was born.

Oldÿ eld had been trained by Dobbs, as well as his father Phil Oldÿ eld who came third in the 2017 championship.

While slower, blade shearing is still fast enough to be commercially viable, Allan says.

But the number of working blade shearers is diminishing and it is becoming more of a sport, he says, with a noted resurgence in

Allan Grant gives a small demo of the art of blade shearing in a Wairarapa woolshed

“

They believe blades get a better staple of wool because the heat from the electric shears burn the tip of the ÿ bre.”

Wales and Scotland, the latter from whence Allan originates.

Blade shearing is no more physically demanding than machine shearing, he says

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF GOLDEN SHEARS

“It places di° erent demands on the body, especially the hands and wrist. Other than that, it is no more physically demanding. I enjoy it as a physical activity. But I don’t expect to win as I don’t shear enough with the blades.”

Blade shearing only appears at the Golden Shears for special occasions, the 60th anniversary being one of them.

There will be two rounds Thursday evening and Friday morning - followed by the ÿ nal on Friday evening.

GOLDEN SHEARS

MASTERTON

2020

60

YEARS

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Thursday, February 20, 2020 Wairarapa Times-Age

MEMORIES GOLDEN SHEARS from 60 years MASTERTON 2 0 2 0 of Golden Shears

60

PHOTOS: WAIRARAPA ARCHIVE

A scene from the ÿ rst Golden Shears in 1961.

YEARS

Godfrey Bowen at 1968 Golden Shears with Bob Chamberlain looking on.

Brian Quinn shearing in the 1980 Trans-Tasman test at the Golden Shears contest. His New Zealand team mate Martin Ngataki waits for his turn at left.

16 young women at Golden Shears in 1980, taking part in the Miss Golden Shears contest. The winner, Maree Cooper is ninth from left; runner-up is Margaret Braddick (11th from left); third place-getter Tracey Styles (3rd from left); Miss Friendship Raewyn Perry (6th from left).

Martin Ngataki, World Shearing Championships, run in conjunction with 1980 Golden Shears

Four junior grade shearers competing. FROM LEFT: C. Kidd; P. Sutherland; J. Wirepa; S. Green-Price.

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www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 20, 2020

Foot flat to the floor for Masterton ace Last season was a big one for Masterton shearer and shearing contractor Paerata Abraham. Paerata won the PGG Wrightson Wool National Circuit Shearing title and represented New Zealand in the Trans-Tasman series.

While the Golden Shears Open title is the most coveted title in New Zealand and arguably the world, the National, by its nature, earns any shearer who wins it a huge amount of respect from their fellow shearers.

To make the National semi-final you have to be one of the top 12 shearers who have been competing in the shearing circuit over the spring and summer throughout New Zealand on a variety of sheep and wool types.

This season Paerata is currently sitting around 14th place, and with the Pahiatua Shears on March 1 the last qualifying event the pressure is on.

Paerata readily admits that his preparation for this year’s National has not been the best.

“My training has not been up to scratch with my focus on family and work. I spent some time shearing in Australia and haven’t competed at as many shows this season.”

Nevertheless, Paerata hasn’t given up on being among the final 12.

“I didn’t fire until about this time last season, and I’m starting to get back into form.”

A naturally gifted speed shearer, Paerata has always been a force to be reckoned with in the speed shearing circuit and this season has been no different, with Paerata enjoying several first and second placings.

But he has always been aware that it is the quality of the shear that wins the major titles and the prestige, likening speed shearing to the rugby sevens versus 15-a-side.

“I’m still working on the technical stuff, getting around the animal so it is more comfortable and not fighting so much. The more comfortable the animal is, the easier it is to do a quality shear.”

Paerata notes, and fully supports the bigger emphasis judges have been placing on quality over the past few years.

“There is such a big emphasis on

it these days, which removes the advantage that shearers get when they get easier-to-handle sheep.

good shearer “willAbe able to

manage a difficult sheep and still do a quality shear. They are rewarding skill more. It’s a really good thing.”

for the shearers in his own gang which he runs with wife Cushla.

“My passion now is to be an example for my crew. To teach them habits that I never had. If I am teaching the boys something, then I have to be doing it myself.”

It is going to be a busy Golden Shears for Paerata if he makes it into the National semi-finals.

Along with the National, he will be attempting to make the final of the Open shearing competition, which he last achieved in 2016.

One of the motivating factors for Paerata is setting an example

GOLDEN SHEARS

MASTERTON

2020

60

YEARS

Shearers know their sheep “Be it the weight, the bone, the type of sheep or sometimes their attitude, shearers know good sheep when they work with them.

Many new clients have come to Wairere as a result of recommendations from those that work with or have shorn, Wairere bred sheep.

Wairere has sold many rams to Golden Shears winners and shearing sports competitors from all categories, who have become farmers themselves.

From one end of New Zealand to the other, and around the world, Waireres have a reputation for being the type of sheep that shearers recommend and farmers want to farm.

“I first shore at Wairere in 1991 and since then have shorn Wairere bred sheep in every corner of New Zealand. They are consistently good sheep, wherever I have found them”. Lawrence Aspinall.

(Pahiatua)

The gang of 2020 from Tararua Shearing and the Wairere team

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Thursday, February 20, 2020 Wairarapa Times-Age

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Thursday, February 20, 2020 Wairarapa Times-Age

The timeless DIGGER BALME

By Doug Laing

Digger ÿ rst appeared in the sixman Saturday night drama at the 31st Golden Shears in 1991. But his record of being there at the business end goes back even further - ÿ ve years earlier to his third place as Richard Balme, of Tuakau, in the Senior ÿ nal in 1986.

Digger Balme doing the business at the Rangitikei Shearing Sports Open ÿ nal in Marton on February 1, 2019.

As is still regularly the case, Balme was ÿ rst to ÿ nish, shearing the 20 second-shear sheep in 16min 31.95sec, the only one under 17 minutes, a sheep ahead of almost all of the ÿ ve other ÿ nalists.

PHOTO/DOUG LAING

King Country shearer Digger Balme remains a contender for a place in the Golden Shears Open shearing ÿ nal in a remarkable career that spans more than half of the 60 years of the Golden Shears.

Moving to Te Kuiti, Digger shore in nine Golden Shears Open ÿ nals from 1991 to 2007, with a best place of runner-up to Sir David in a

Digger’s last Open ÿ nal wins were in 2014, but he continues to reach ÿ nals to this day, including at A-grade show the Rangitikei Shearing Sports, won by reigning multiple Golden Shears champion Rowland Smith in Marton on February 1.

GOLDEN SHEARS

MASTERTON

2020

60

YEARS

He was 41 seconds quicker than Smith, whose superior quality was ultimately enough to carry the day when all points were collated. near all-King Country ÿ nal in 1998.

But he certainly hasn’t faded from the competition scene since then.

Digger’s record in Golden Shears Open Finals is: 1991 (5th), 1994 (5th), 1998 (2nd), 2000 (6th), 2001 (3rd), 2002 (4th), 2003 (6th), 2005 (4th), 2007 (5th).

From Dubbo to Masterton with Aroha

By Doug Laing A New Zealander who became Australia’s only world wool handling champion will be back in New Zealand for the Trans-Tasman test on the Friday evening of the Golden Shears.

It will be a sentimental trip for Aroha, who won the Golden Shears Open wool handling title in 1988, 1990 and 1991, while based mainly in South Otago.

By the end of 1995 she was

settled in West Australia but still feels the allure of the Golden Shears, saying: “I was going to come anyway, because it’s the 60th anniversary Golden Shears, and it’s the ÿ rst one without Koro (the stadium and live-streaming commentator who died unexpectedly in September).”

From Raetihi in the Central North Island, Garvin won her World title in South Africa in 2000, having taken a ÿ ve-year standdown before switching the

competition allegiances.

She competed in six Trans-Tasman wool handling tests from 1999 to 2012, amazingly including ÿ ve of Australia’s 10 wins in a series otherwise dominated by New Zealand. Her single Trans-Tasman defeat was at the Golden Shears in Masterton in 2003.

She was back in Masterton for the 2012 World championships, in which she was third behind New Zealanders Joel Henare and

Joanne Kumeroa in the individual ÿ nal, and runner-up to New Zealand in the teams event.

At 55, mother of two sons and a daughter, with “about” eight grandchildren, she and partner Greg McAtamney, from Ranfurly in Central Otago, live in York, about 95km east of Perth, running Progress Shearing, which is currently shearing about 100,000 sheep a year and employing over 60 sta° at peak in the spring.

Congratulations Golden Shears on your Golden Jubilee Congratulations from the National Party Agricultural Team on achieving a spectacular sixty years of the Golden Shears. Thank you to the committee, industry, competitors, families, farmers, suppliers and the many volunteers for your commitment to this event. We’re looking forward to Golden Shears 2020!

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37

www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 20, 2020

The good Goss at the GOLDEN MASTERTON 2 0 2 0 SHEARS GOLDEN SHEARS

60

YEARS

By Doug Laing

Multi-generational family histories in shearing are as legendary as the Golden Shears itself, among them that of the Goss Family, going back at least 36 years.

It was in 1984 that Alan Goss, of Kimbolton, was third in the Junior shearing ÿ nal, a feat he bettered when he won the Intermediate ÿ nal 12 months later.

In 2008 wife Ronnie Goss won the Open wool handling ÿ nal, and in 2013 daughter Sarah Goss won a women’s Invitation shearing event, following her third placings

in the 2010 Junior ÿ nal and the Intermediate ÿ nal in 2012.

Ronnie Goss went on to represent New Zealand at the 2014 World Championships, by which time Sarah was making her name in women’s rugby.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s brother, Simon Goss, is a leading contender for the Golden Shears Senior shearing title in 2020.

He was ÿ fth in the 2011 Junior ÿ nal and runner-up in the 2013 Intermediate ÿ nal won by Masterton shearer David Gordon, and after dabbling with Senior competition took a break to do a

Simon Goss in the Rangitikei Shears Sports Senior shearing ÿ nal on February 1st this year. PHOTO/ DOUG LAING

trade in diesel mechanics.

With the family having moved from Kimbolton to the Mangamahu Valley in the Whanganui district, Simon has re-emerged as a top Golden

Shears prospect this year with 10 wins in Senior ÿ nals by the time of the Otago championships in Balclutha on February 8 - a record that means he will be graded up to the Open class next season.

Champs back for another bite of the golden apple A familiar sight at the Golden Shears are Open champions Rowland Smith and Joel Henare.

On each of the six times that Smith has won the Golden Shears Open shearing championship, the Open wool handling champion has been Joel Henare.

Photo: PETE NIKOLAISON/ GOLDEN SHEARS

At this year’s Golden Shears Smith will be aiming to become the second most successful Open

champion after Sir David Fagan.

ÿ rst ÿ nal in 1961.

Fagan’s record is 16 Golden Shears Open titles from 1986 to 2009, while Smith’s six wins to date is equal with the six won by Brian “Snow” Quinn from 1965 to 1972.

Henare has won the Open wool handling ÿ nal seven times in a row. His mentor, the now-late Joanne Kumeroa, won the title six times, including three in a row in 2010-2012, meaning no other competitor than Henare or Kumeroa has won the Golden Shears Open wool handling title since 2009.

Sir David, Smith, Quinn and fourtimes winner John Kirkpatrick have among them won more than half of the 59 Golden Shears Open shearing ÿ nals since the

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