Traditional shearing competitions season-opener the New Zealand Merino Shears has been cancelled this year as organisers work to mark its 60th anniversary, post-Covid, in style in 2021. The championships in Alexandra, which would have attracted 100-plus shearers and woolhandlers to the only fine wool competition on the Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar, were to have been held on October 2-3. The cancellation has also led to the cancellation of the 2020-21 national shearing circuit. It also affects the annual home-and-away transtasman series, with the two competitions providing two of the three shearers in the New Zealand team each summer. New Zealand Merino Shearing Society chairman Greg Stuart said the cancellation was due to theCovid-19 crisis producing severe impacts across the country and the world.

Source: Otago Daily Times June 25, 2020 16:30 UTC