AHEAD OF THE HEARD -- The recent Calgary Stampede featured the 20th anniversary of the North American Sheep Shearing Challenge. Considering that the Stampede is mainly a celebration of cowboy, horse and cattle culture, the existence of this event is a credit to the foresight and inclusiveness of the board of directors. Interestingly, during the golden age of ranching in southern Alberta 120 years ago, sheep herding was a much larger industry than it is now with flocks of five to 10 thousand head roaming some rangelands. Sheep shows were always part of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede and remain so to this day. Although sheep shearing was a demonstration event at the Stampede for many years, it wasn’t until 1996 that an actual formal shearing competition was organized. It was soon named the North American Sheep Shearing Challenge, mainly because no other shearing competition was using that title. Like other competitions at the Calgary Stampede, it soon became the richest event of its kind in North America. It’s still a modest competition compared to other livestock and rodeo events at the Stampede, but this championship carries bragging rights along with $11,000 in prize money at stake.
To those who have watched sheep shearing, it remains a fascinating event, especially at world-class competitions in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. In those countries, shearing competitions are big business involving dozens of competitors in multiple classes using up to four thousand sheep at a single competition, which can run for three to four full days. Those events attract as many as 10,000 visitors per day and the contests are live-streamed internationally. They also feature wool handling and wool pressing competitions. The Golden Shears world championship event held in New Zealand is the Holy Grail of the sheep shearing world. This is where world records are made with contestants shearing 20 sheep in as little as 15 minutes. There is a professional supervisory organization called Shearing Sports New Zealand Inc. that oversees competitive events, rules and judges. The chairman of that organization was even knighted by the Queen for his efforts on behalf of competitive shearing.
The Stampede shearing event isn’t even close to that super league with sheep here being shorn on average one every three to four minutes, but then competition conditions between the two events are quite different, especially with regard to the type of sheep being used. At the New Zealand event, the sheep breed and wool type are absolutely concise and even so that all shearers have an equal chance. In Alberta it’s a different story – high-quality wool type sheep that are consistent and available in sufficient numbers are not to be found. Most sheep in this province are meat-type crossbreds where wool is a nuisance by-product. The Stampede contest sheep were feeder lambs under one year old. They were consistent in size and weight, but they make poor shearing sheep when compared with the wool-type sheep used at world class sheep shearing contests.
Sheep shearing itself is both a skill and an art. It’s particularly difficult in North America where sheep are so inconsistent as to type and quality. In big sheep raising countries a shearer will encounter countless thousands of clean easy-shearing wool sheep. Here shearers have to deal with sheep of different sizes, temperaments, skin types, and rough tight wool that could contain burrs, seeds, hay debris, dried manure, and assorted parasites. Working and sheep handling conditions can be less than ideal at the best of times. One could say that sheep shearers in North America are actually better than those in Australia or New Zealand, considering the hazardous working conditions and mishmash of sheep types they have to deal with in this country. Alas, the cost of shearing a sheep in Canada is at times double or more than in major sheep countries. Unfortunately, with the low quality of Canadian wool, growers are often lucky to break even upon selling their wool.
Over its 20 year history, the Stampede Sheep Shearing competition has evolved and has been fine-tuned thanks to a dedicated committee, including 20-year event veteran Karen Jones. No, it’s not like the world class events that occur in New Zealand, the UK or Australia, but it’s pretty good and attracts contestants from across Canada, the USA and even from those sheep raising super powers. Bigger prize money could attract more attention from the shearing competition world, but considering the size of the sheep industry in Alberta, we are lucky to have this event at the Calgary Stampede.