equipment and sheep, are usually very fit and well trained. In Wales a sheep shearing contest is one of the events of the Royal Welsh Show, the country's premier agricultural show held near Builth Wells. The world's largest sheep shearing and wool handling contest, the Golden Shears, is held in the Wairarapa district, New Zealand. The shearing World Championships are hosted by different countries every 2–3 years and eight countries have hosted the event. The first World Championships were held at the Bath & West showground, England, in 1977, and the first Machine-Shearing winner was Roger Cox from New Zealand. Other countries that have hosted the sheep shearing World Championships have been New Zealand (3 times), England (3 times), Australia (2 times), Wales, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa & Norway. Out of 13 World Championships, New Zealand have won the team Machine contest 10 times, and famous New Zealand sheep-shearer David Fagan has been World Champion a record 5 times. In October, 2008 the event was hosted in Norway. It was the first time ever that the event was hosted by a non-English speaking country. The newly crowned World Machine Shearing champion is Paul Avery from New Zealand. New Zealand also won the team event, and the traditional blade-shears World Champion is Ziewilelle Hans from South Africa. A record 29 countries competed at the 2008 event. The next World Championship will be held in France in July 2019. World Blade Shearing has been dominated by South African and Lesotho shearers, Fine Wool machine shearing dominated by Australian shearers, and New Zealand dominating the Strong Wool machine shearing. See also Micron (wool) Station (Australian agriculture) Station (New Zealand agriculture) Shrek (sheep) – a hermit sheep that became notable in New Zealand for his extraordinarily thick fleece after avoiding being shorn for six years. Wool classing Crooked Mick Wool alien References External links Golden Shears World Championship shearing Walter Bowen FarmingAds How to Shear A Sheep Sheep shearing information, Training, Competitions, World Shearing Records, World Shearing Championships Australian culture British culture Shearing Australian sheep industry Agriculture in New Zealand Sports originating in Australia Shearing Shearing Shearing Shearing Shearing Shearing