page_title: Blade shearing
section_title: Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Blade shearing / Sport
caption_attribution_description: English: Blade shearers competing at The Waimate spring shears
context_page_description: Blade shearing or hand shearing is the style of shearing sheep and other animals with fibrous coats with a set of specialized scissors. It is practiced in many parts of the world as both an occupation and a sport. Commercial blade shearers shear on average 140 sheep in an 8-hour working day, but some will shear over 200 sheep in a day.
context_section_description: In blade shearing competitions, the competitors are not only judged on how fast they can shear but also how tidily they shear. International blade shearing rules stipulate that the sheep must have an even finish of 5-15mm of wool and shearers will be penalised for any skin cuts or any wool that is too short or too long. Shearers are also judged as they shear for any time they cut the wool twice, this is called a second cut. Shearers can also be penalized for rough handling of the sheep or allowing the sheep to escape their control during shearing.
  Blade shearing as a sport has been through some ups and downs since the 1980s but in the last 2 or three years, it has increased in popularity. In the last 30 years many blade shearing competitions have been discontinued but now, with a resurgence of interest, the number of blade shearing competitions seems to be increasing. There were only 3 blade shearing competitions in Australia 25 years ago but that number has recently increased to at least 14 this year. In the UK this year a show was created specifically for blade shearing and to promote the blade shearing circuit in the UK. This month (October 2016) the Boort show held a blade shearing competition with $3000 for first place, the largest prize for a blade shearing event in the world.
  The next big blade shearing competition is the world shearing championships in Scotland, June 2022. Blade shearers from at least 13 countries will be competing including Australia, South Africa, Japan, USA, France, Germany, Ireland, England and more. For the last 20 years, South Africa and Lesotho have dominated the world blade shearing championships.  The most recent world champion is Allan Oldfield from New Zealand who won the title at Le Dorat in France in July 2019.
caption: Blade shearers competing at The Waimate spring shears
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