Young shearers learn from best at Royal New Zealand Show

Rowland Smith, Maraekakaho, provides a shearing demo for secondary school student shearers at the Hawke's Bay Royal A&P Show. Photo Duncan Brown

Some of Hawke's Bay's newest shearers had one of the world's best to show them the ropes as they took part in the secondary schools shearing championships at the Royal New Zealand Show in Hastings yesterday.

The pointers came from reigning New Zealand and Golden Shears champion and 2014 world champion Rowland Smith, who will today defend the show's Great Raihania Shears Open title in the shearing pavilion near the Ellwood Rd entrance to the Showgrounds.

Clearly in awe were 10 teenagers from Napier Boys' High School and Lindisfarne College. They ranged in experience from having shorn just a few sheep, to 18-year-old Northern Hawke's Bay farmer's son and NPHS pupil Bennett Manson, having his third go in the event and final cracking the title in what is thought to be the only secondary schools shearing contest at an A and P show in New Zealand.

In the three heats of two sheep each, times ranged from 6min 35sec to 12min 32sec, but as Smith would tell them: "It's not just about time."

Great Raihania Shears convenor and Hastings shearing contractor Colin Watson Paul said the quality looked "pretty good in the pens afterwards, and if anyone of the contenders were looking for a job to check him out.

It wasn't easy for any of the young shearers, on what the experts considered good shearing on the hoggets from the flock of Moteo farmer Jim Cross, estimated to be each about 55kg and carrying 2.5kg to 3kg of wool.

With the field split into two finals, the premier junior grade quartet included Manson and Lindisfarn pair Rio Proudfoot and Atawhai Hadfield, all of whom already had show shearing experience.

Manson, who is heading for Lincoln College and studies in land and property management, has already won a novice final at the Wairoa A and P Show and has a best full-day tally of more than 170 ewes to his name already, runner-up Proudfoot was fourth in the Poverty Bay junior final in Gisborne last Saturday, and third-placed Hadfield was in last year's Wairoa show junior final.

The novice final was won by Lindisfarne College pupil Ethan Roadley.

Despite the academic pathway ahead, Manson said he wanted to be a shearer, and as good as Smith, who in England in July sheared a world eight-hour-day record of 644 ewes.
"I enjoy it, I love it," said Manson, whose father is a well-known sheep dog trialist. "I'll give it a good crack."

NBHS Head of Agriculture Rex Newman, whose history has been in dairying, described the event as "great sport" for the youngsters. He expects the competition, which was first held in 2013, will grow rapidly, with the likelihood of more from his school, which has about 200 students including agricultural studies, of whom about 40 have been to shearing or sheep crutching instruction this year.