\u201cWe\u2019re confident that, in conjunction with the Royal Agricultural Society, we\u2019ll be staging a show that has bounced back, and then some, from the difficulties of the past few years, to become the pre-eminent A&P show in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Brooker, co-chairman of the Corriedale Championships organising committee, said everything was set for the shearing competitions to confirm their place as one of the signature attractions of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cEntries are certainly looking good, and we\u2019re pleased to be able to have the same Corriedale sheep from Marble Point Station, Hanmer Springs, that we\u2019ve had for the past six or eight championships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means that the shearers can expect an even and predictable line of sheep showing up in the catching pens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Heartland Bank NZ Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships are the third of the six-leg PGG Wrightson Mixed Breed Shearing Competition Circuit, with the final to be held at the Masterton Golden Shears in the first week of March next year.<\/p>\n
The Golden Shears will also stage the 2026 World Shearing Championships. <\/p>\n
This year, the Canterbury show in Christchurch will stick with the Thursday-to-Saturday format it adopted for the reduced event last year, one in which the wider show survived only thanks to a $5 million bailout from the Christchurch City Council, $4m of which has been stashed in a fund that has to be maintained at that level to finance future shows.<\/p>\n
Carter noted the unique role the Corriedale breed had played in Canterbury history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe name Corriedale comes from the North Otago farm where James Little developed the breed by crossing fine wool merinos with English long-wool Lincoln and Leicester sheep in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was setting out to create a dual-purpose sheep that could produce both meaty lambs for the newly-established frozen meat trade in Britain, and what we call mid-micron wool today, finer than strong wool but not as fine as fine wool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter said the Corriedale was the first new breed of sheep established in New Zealand, being officially sanctioned by the New Zealand Sheep Breeders Association in 1905, and it has since been taken up by farmers all around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a short hop from the breed\u2019s North Otago roots up to Canterbury, where it\u2019s been the region\u2019s signature wool type ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strong wool prices<\/p>\n
Strong wool prices have jumped from $3\/kg or less last year to well over $4\/kg this year.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Corriedale shearing competition comes in the upbeat environment of wool prices rising, and more sustainably than they\u2019ve done in decades.<\/p>\n
Mid-micron (22 to 31 microns) prices, which cover Corriedale wool, have shot up between 14% and 27% since last year, and fine wool (below 22 microns) has gone up even more dramatically, with one lot of ultra-fine 12.5 micron merino wool recently selling for an extraordinary $155\/kg greasy.<\/p>\n
Even strong wool prices have followed the trends of the finer wools, jumping from $3\/kg \u2013 or less \u2013 last year, to well over $4\/kg this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the wool market is looking really buoyant, and with all the initiatives going into growing its market share here and overseas, the current prices look sustainable,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n