Dunedin sheep shearer represents Canada at Golden Shears
Dunedin sheep shearer Don Metheral has flown halfway around the world to represent Canada at the Golden Shears.
The World Shearing and Wool handling Championships are being held in Invercargill, New Zealand from Feb. 8-11.
To get ready for the competition, Metheral will be working in the country throughout January as a contract shearer but also working on his fitness and agility.
Metheral competes in the machine shearing category but the event also includes blade shearing (done with manual scissors) and wool handling (skirting wool for presentation and packing for the world market).
New Zealand is considered the top country in the machine shearing competition, followed by Scotland and Australia, along with Whales.
He will compete in the open division against close to 60 of the most experienced shearers from 30 countries. It is not his first time competing on the world stage. Metheral also represented Canada in Ireland in 1998 and in Norway in 2008.
A lot of the top shearers will be shearing five sheep in under minutes. The idea is to keep points low and time to a minimum. Everyone starts with zero and every 20 seconds a point is added.
Metheral said he can shear a sheep in the 1:20 minute to 1:30 minute range, with an overall time of six minutes or so but he is hoping to get that down to the five-minute mark in the coming month.
He has gone to New Zealand one month early to train and get used to shearing Romney sheep, which are prevalent in the Invercargill area.
“In other world championships I went to, I only had two or three days. I arrived in the country and I started shearing their sheep so I was a little lost on the wool type and body structure of the sheep so it gives you a disadvantage but hopefully this year, being a month ahead of the competition I can shear a lot of sheep and get into the rhythm,” said Metheral.
They will be shearing in the full wool heat (a year’s worth of growth) and the second shear heat (sheep with a half year’s growth) and also a lamb shearing heat. They are judged on second cuts to the wool, which is a ridge that is left on from the clipping but the shearer goes back and takes that little ridge off. “What we want to do is have a whole piece of fibre coming off. We don’t want that mixing in with the rest of the fibre, or you get points added on. The sheep are inspected for nicks and cuts to the skin and how much wool is left on.”
“It’s unreal because here in Canada, we shear a lot by ourselves and we have to figure out a lot of the stuff and keep an eye on our equipment and we are not really on the forefront, so if any new equipment comes out we don’t know until about two years later,” said Metheral. “So when you go to the world championships you get to talk to the technical guys, the companies that make our [tools].”
He said it is also an opportunity to learn about new techniques and trends in shearing, changing patterns.
“Things that might make it that much easier so it’s really good because then I can bring it back and start teaching it here to other shearers that want to start learning,” said Metheral.
Each participating country is allowed to send two representatives in each competition category. Whereas in other countries, shearers would compete at qualifiers, in Canada, the top shearers are invited to represent Canada.
Metheral has won the Calgary Stampede four times and the Royal Winter fair in Toronto once (they no longer host a sheep shearing competition), the US championships in Denver, Colorado, the national stock show in 2010, the Holstein rodeo once and placed second numerous times and holds many other titles.
When Metheral returns to Canada in March, he said he will be right into the local shearing season.
