October 9

Scotland’s Gavin Mutch took advantage of a fast start to win the Waimate Spring Shears on Saturday. Mutch, who led for much of the way in the Open Final, finished just behind Invercargill shearer Leon Samuels on times and eventually won courtesy of fewer penalty points. Seddon’s Angus Moore finished second with Samuels third. “I kind of know my fitness isn’t quite where it should be, so for me it was trying to get in front and hold it for as long as I could before they caught me and I actually managed to stay in front for a lot longer than I expected before my fitness caught up with me and after that it’s just trying to survive,” Mutch said. “It was a very, very tough final with sheep with quite a lot of work on them, and to win is quite a surreal feeling,” he said.

Second behind Mutch yesterday was Seddon’s Angus Moore, who said he was happy with his early season performances. “In form? I’m not sure, we’re just at the start of the season and I haven’t really done a lot with that yet but I feel like I’m nailing a few goals that I had preseason so that’s good.” he said.

Waimate Spring Shears president Warren White said the Spring Shears, which is the second round of the PGG Wrightson VetMed National Shearing Circuit, had been “of a very high standard. There were good crowds. The weeks gone smoothly thanks to the good committee here and everything’s gone pretty well.” White also pointed to the event’s start-of-the-art venue as a major factor in the week’s success. “Oh it’s great, a good atmosphere, we go the extra distance to try and make things happen, try and make things smooth and make things happen and it does make a big difference to the show,” he said. 

Dannevirke-based Mutch said he had found a new burst of enthusiasm for the sport, which had helped set up the win. “I’m actually just enjoying my shearing now, I shear for fun I don’t actually shear full time, I just kinda shear for fun, competitions that’s my hobby, my sport and just compete because I love it.”

Mutch’s win sets him up perfectly for next months Corriedale Championships at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch. “It’s a good event there, mentally its a very tough competition with the finer wool… I’m from Scotland so it’s coarse wool that I grew up on so for me to shear fine wool sheep is out of my comfort zone a little bit but really enjoy rising top that challenge too. It’s a national title so to win it, it’s kinda one that you strive for as well.”

Defending Corriedales champion Moore is also gearing up for the Christchurch event. “Probably for me I have a really simple view of the Corriedales in Christchurch because there’s quite a lot of variation in the breed so I just try and shear half like a Merino and half like a crossbreed because there is that variation in the crossbreed, I mean the Corriedale which makes it difficult. And then gear is almost more important at Christchurch than at other shows because if you make that wrong selection then its not going to go at all,” he said.