National Ploughing Championships - Lamb Shearing
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What is the All‑Ireland Lamb Shearing Championships and why is it held at the Ploughing?
Countrywide on RTE Radio 1. 51551 for your texts. We're gonna stay at the ploughing. The All Ireland Lamb Shearing Championships took place there this week when Ireland's fastest and most skilled sheep shearers, ranging from really young uh kids upwards, were put to the test. And it's all, of course, about speed, but the quality of the finished uh job is part of it too. Well, Della Kilroy went along to meet some of them. and started talking to Sligo sheep farmer, Carol Devaney.
And we've got the thumbs up from a referee to see the set and we're ready to go. Timekeepers ready! Judges ready! Competitors go! And it's all set to happen here with Ivan Scott, Carol Devani and Patrick Oregon, the big one. The open final, the NPA Open Lambsharing final twenty twenty six. And away the goal, so
Yeah, we're looking at lambs here. We're looking at about half of them shorn and half them woolly. There's an All Ireland All Ireland lamb titles on the line today. Over three hundred lambs will be shorn today. Some top shearers here competing and uh it's a big draw at the plowing and I probably can't overstate how um impressive of a skill it is. I've been watching it for since I was a young boy now and it's still it it's still I just find absolutely mad how you can get the wool off a sheep, have the sheep go out, perfectly healthy, wool off sheep uh in in in a good state after in a minute or less. It's crazy. But it's it's cool.
Who who taught you to share and what do you remember about? My
dad was probably sure my first sheep and was about twelve I'd say. Yeah, our family since LIGO, yeah. I'm the eldest of um nine children were a farming family on the side of on the foot of Ben Bulban. Um would have been young and pudgy, probably at thirteen or fourteen and quite soft and they were probably looking at me saying he's probably not gonna stick that but I I just loved it. I know my I just loved the skill of it and and just I thought if I could do anything close to that it'd be it'd be crazy. So
How do competitors balance speed and quality when shearing lambs?
You're competing in the open category today. Where for you do you think are are the seconds won or last?
It's it's speed and it's quality. You have to be very fast but then there will be there's judges on the board to make sure you're not doing what's called second cuts to describe it for people when in the middle of the competition there's a a judge to every shearer and they cycle so they rotate across. But um so it's judged uh out there and then it's judged out the back afterwards, there'll be judges that'll be paying very close attention to all of the sheep, penalised for any little nicks, penalized for any wool left on. and then it's an overall champion. So the champions here has to be fast and has to be clean too. Very high standard. And i it's certainly it's a privil I find it a privilege to be sh here sharing at the plow and it's a big crowd watching and it you'd be nervous.
That's it, and there's people trying to get their seats already for for the final. P are enough young people learning the skill, do you think, now?
No, I wouldn't say so. No. There seems to be more and more people ringing. I'm a contract shearer myself and there seems to be more and more people ringing every year and from different parts of the country too wanting you to come down and shear their sheep. I wouldn't say there's enough at now. It's a very physical job, it's a tough job.
So what are you hoping for today?
Oh, well hoping to get into a final and then we'll compete and so we'll probably be a a an underdog, we'll be an outside but uh Mayo won the All Ireland. So if that can happen, anything can happen.
Just come on cheer Raman with it. We get faster the more you cheer from that, so we like to hear Oh they vet they go. Patrick Corrigan and Ivan Scott. They go in for another sheet. In goes Patrick Corrigan and in goes Ivan Scott. So you're
judging today.
I'm David Renill, um from Northern Ireland, uh an area judge in Northern Ireland.
So what exactly are you judging? Is the fastest shearer necessarily the winner?
No. Um the shear has to take the the fleece off the sheep in one piece, uh, without injuring the sheep and and the fastest time he can.
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