Over 2,200 sheep will be shore at the National and International Sheep Shearing Championships, which will take place from June 4 to 5 at the Tullynally estate in Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath.
According to one of the organisers, George Graham, the event will feature the very best of Irish and international sheep shearers.
The championships are set to kick off at 7.30am on Saturday morning, he said, with the best Irish shearers fighting it out to take to coveted prize of the Irish Open Champion.
On the Sunday, the international competition will kick off.
Graham said that there is an international twist to this year’s competition, as a number of teams from Scotland, France and the UK will compete on the second day of the event.
He added that the competition will be fierce as some of the top international sheep shearers will be fighting to secure their place for the world sheep shearing championships in New Zealand next year.
Securing sheep for the shearing championships
One of the toughest jobs in preparing for the competition was securing adequate sheep numbers, Graham said.
He said the judges had to look at over 3,000 sheep to ensure they had adequate numbers of sheep for the competition.
Graham also said that the competition is also likely to be a little tougher this year, as the late spring means that wool growth is back by two weeks on last year.
