Canterbury Shears to go ahead despite New Zealand Agricultural Show cancellation

New Canterbury Shears committee chairman Jonathon Carden-Holdstock has confirmed the competition will go ahead in Christchurch during Show Week in November.

The Canterbury Shears and New Zealand Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships will go ahead in November despite the Canterbury A&P Society’s decision to cancel the New Zealand Agricultural Show.

New shears committee chairman Jonathon Carden-Holdstock, a Banks Peninsula cattle farmer and former show operations manager, confirmed the championships would take place on November 14-15 — the Thursday and Friday of the traditional show week.

The decision was made unanimously at a committee meeting, subject to the completion of some arrangements, and the committee expressed its appreciation to a range of sponsors that enabled it to happen.

The woolhandling titles are expected to be decided on Thursday and the shearing on Friday, which includes the third round of the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit.

The A&P society decided it would not stage its show this year in mid-April, but shearing and some other sections have since been working towards still going ahead with their events.

The shearing competition decision is another show of the resilience that enabled the championships to be held twice amid show cancellations during the pandemic, including once at Marble Point Station near Hanmer Springs.

Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman Sir David Fagan said with the Canterbury Shears committee having shown the determination to successfully stage the championships previously in times of crisis, he was “always confident” the event would happen again this year.

It will be the 57th Canterbury Shears.

The decision means 59 shows will be held in the 2024-25 Shearing Sports New Zealand season.

This could feature the early stage of New Zealand team selection processes for the next world championships, to be held at the Golden Shears in Masterton on March 4-7, 2026.

More than two-thirds of the events are at A&P shows.

Shearing Sports NZ competition schedule 2024-25

2024

October 4-5 (Fri-Sat): NZ Merino Shears, at Alexandra.

October 11-12 (Fri-Sat): NZ Spring Shears, at Waimate.

October 19 (Saturday): Poverty Bay A&P Show at Gisborne; Ellesmere A&P Show at Leeston.

October 25-27 (Fri-Sun): Australian National Championships and Transtasman tests, at Katanning, WA.

October 25 (Friday): Great Raihania Shears, at Hawke’s Bay A&P Show, Hastings.

October 26 (Saturday): Northern A&P Show at Rangiora.

Read more shearing and woolhandling stories here

November 2 (Saturday): Manawatū A&P Show at Manfeild (Feilding); Ashburton A&P Show at Ashburton.

November 3 (Sunday): Wairarapa A&P Show at Clareville (Carterton).

November 9 (Saturday): Central Hawke’s Bay A&P Show at Waipukurau; Marlborough A&P Show at Blenheim; Get to the Point Gymkhana Shears at Pleasant Point.

November 14-15 (Thu-Fri): New Zealand Corriedale Championships at New Zealand Agricultural Show, Canterbury Agricultural Park, Christchurch.

November 23 (Saturday): West Otago A&P Show at Tapanui; Nelson A&P Show at Richmond Park (Nelson).

November 30 (Saturday): Taranaki Shears at Stratford A&P Show.

December 7 (Saturday): Whangārei A&P Show at Whangārei; Geyserland Agrodome Shears, Rotorua A&P Show at Ngongotahā.

2025

January 11 (Saturday): Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears at Duvauchelle.

January 17 (Friday): Northern Southland Community Shears (NZ Full Wool Championships) at Lumsden; Wairoa A&P Show Speedshear

January 18 (Saturday): Kaikohe AP&H Show at Kaikohe; Wairoa A&P Show at Wairoa; Golden Bay A&P Show at Takaka; Southland Shears (New Zealand Crossbred Lambs Championships) at Winton A&P Show.

January 19 (Sunday): Horowhenua AP&I Show at Levin.

January 25 (Saturday): Taihape A and P Show, Taihape; Tapawera Shears, Tapawera.

January 31 (Friday): Dannevirke A and P Show at Dannevirke.

February 1 (Saturday): North Kaipara A&P Show at Paparoa; Rangitikei Shearing Sports at Marton; Reefton Shears, Inangahua A&P Show at Reefton.

February 5 (Wednesday): Aria Cosmopolitan Club Speedshear.

February 6 (Thursday): Aria Waitangi Day Sports at Aria.

February 8 (Saturday): Northern Wairoa A&P Show at Arapohue (Dargaville); Te Puke A&P Show at Te Puke; Otago Shears at Balclutha.

February 14-15 (Fri-Sat): Southern Shears at Gore.

February 15 (Saturday): North Hokianga A&P Show at Broadwood; Ōhura A&P Show at Ōhura; Murchison A&P Show at Murchison.

February 16 (Sunday): Counties Shears at Pukekohe.

February 21 (Friday): Taumarunui Shears at Hikurangi Station, Taumarunui.

February 22 (Saturday): Apiti Sports at Apiti; Kaikōura A&P Show at Kaikōura.

February 23 (Sunday): Pahīatua Shears at Mangaone Valley, Pahīatua.

February 25 (Tuesday): Hawke’s Bay Autumn Shears.

February 26 (Wed): Wairarapa Pre-Shears Woolhandling at Mikimiki, Masterton.

February 27-March 1 (Thu-Sat): Golden Shears International Championships, at Masterton.

March 1 (Saturday): Amuri A&P Show at Rotherham.

March 8 (Saturday): Kumeū A&H Show at Kumeū; Cheviot A&P Show at Cheviot; Mayfield A&P Show at Mayfield.

March 15 (Saturday): Warkworth A&P Show at Warkworth; Waimarino Shears at Raetihi; Methven Lamb Shears at Methven A&P Show.

March 22 (Saturday): Waitomo Caves Sports at Waitomo.

March 23 (Sunday): Flaxbourne A&P Show at Ward.

March 27-29 (Thurs-Sat): New Zealand Shears at Te Kūiti.

March 29 (Saturday): Oxford A&P Show at Oxford.

April 21 (Monday): Mackenzie A&P Show (NZ Lambshearing Championships) at Fairlie.