Wool, sweat and shears - Golden Shears underway in Masterton

The Golden Shears is underway in Masterton, and from early Thursday the War Memorial Stadium has been buzzing to the sound of shears, woolhandlers' brooms and the cranking of wool presses.https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6347962844112Masterton is buzzing this weekend to the sound of shears, wool handlers' brooms and the cranking of wool presses.The Golden Shears, billed as the world's premier shearing and wool handling competition, has this year drawn around 500 entries, more than 25 percent up on last year.Go behind the scenes at the Golden Shears with Country LifeThe competition attracts top shearers from around the world and has been going since 1961, with grades from novice to open and even a teddy bear shearing contest for the little ones.The youngest generation also gets a chance to step up onto the boards in the teddy bear shearing competitionWool pressing, one of the most demanding jobs in the woolshed, is also on display and hotly contested among single and paired competitors. Squeezing the wool into a target weight, neatly baled, pinned and branded in the shortest time possible is the aim of the game. The Shears are livestreamed, reaching audiences as far away as Mongolia. A team of Mongolian shearers is here to compete too.Two hundred of the entrants are in the novice or junior grade, thanks to new training programmes, bringing people into the industry.Fifteen-year-old Wairoa College student, Ashlin Swann, who won the Novice final, showed it's not all about speed.She was slowest, shearing the two sheep in just under seven and a half minutes but received only three penalties in the pen where judges check to see how efficiently and carefully the fleece has been removed.Tama Bartlett has entered the wool pressing for the first timeShearing is often a family affair and the stands are chock full of supporters.spectatorsFour thousand sheep head through the stadium from farms in Wairarapa and as far south as Otago. It's a well-oiled machine unloading the animals in the compact yard area in the town centre.The Saturday night Open Shearing Final is the culmination of a year's worth of hard work involving many volunteers and officials.Defending champion and eight-time winner Rowland Smith has pulled out due to injury, throwing the competition wide open to a raft of hopefuls. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details