The world’s biggest, and possibly only, merino shearing and woolhandling championships are expected to attract more than 150 competitors to Alexandra in Central Otago on Friday and Saturday.

With many seasonally based in the area, it will be the first outing in a Shearing Sports New Zealand season of almost 60 competitions on an almost weekly basis – through to Easter Monday in mid-April 2025.

But the New Zealand Merino Shears, held in local sports and community venue Molyneaux Stadium, is the only one dedicated to merino shearing, with over 1200 wethers from Northburn Station and Merino Ridge being shorn, each estimated to be cutting 5-6kg of fine wool.

Competition chairman Lane McSkimming said that while the fleeces were big, they were also “beautiful” cutting.

There is open and senior shearing and open, senior and junior woolhandling, the two open events each attracting over 50 competitors.

The winners, or best Kiwis, become automatic selections in the New Zealand team for the first of the home-and-away 2024-2025 trans-tasman tests, in Katanning, West Australia, at Labour Weekend.

The open shearing heats also constitute the first round of the PGG Wrightson/Vetmed National Shearing Circuit, which comprises five qualifying rounds over five different wool types, leading to the semifinals and final during the Golden Shears in Masterton in March.

McSkimming said entries, which closed last week, were good and an increase on last year, with some from Australia, again posing significant hopes in both shearing events.

It’s a busy programme with competition starting at 7.45am each day, the woolhandling on Friday and the shearing on Friday afternoon and Saturday. You can watch the event live via Facebook.

The championships will be followed by the Waimate Spring Shears the following weekend, with the first competition in the North Island being the Gisborne championships at the Poverty Bay A&P Show on October 19.