Some of the best sheep country on the continent stretches from here to the Canadian border, and some of the best sheep shearers as well. Some, like Darren Kennedy, learned the sheep-sheering trade on the other side of the world. Kennedy was born in New Zealand: also, prime sheep country. The shearers use electrically-powered shaft-driven cutters that make quick work of relieving a sheep of his overcoat.

     Between contests, the promoters put on a demonstration of the way they used to shear sheep before electricity. There was a lot of hand-cranking and hand squeezing. As you can see, electricity helped a lot. As the shearers are quickly disrobing the sheep out front, back-stage, the sheep are being examined for quality of the work.

     It's not all about speed.You can get finished long before all the other contestants and still lose the contest. As you're shearing the sheep, the judges are looking right over your shoulder and they are taking notes. You can't knick the animal. Judges don't like you hurting the sheep. The sheep don't like it either. You don't want to leave ridges, and you want to use long, even strokes.

     For the sheep, the room probably seems a little drafty once they get free of the clippers. In the end it was a sheep-raiser from Iowa who took the championship. Sheep shearing may not be the oldest profession in the world, but it's darned close. And sheep-shearing as a sport is probably just as old. Yes, crowds were watching this sort of thing long before football.

Al Van Zee