No sector of agriculture has llent itself to a competitive sport as naturally as shearing. New Zealand sets the standard in competitive clipping - and sports editor Hayden Meikle does not see that changing in a hurry.
For a sport and occupation soaked in stink, there is an undeniable whiff of romance about shearing.
Perhaps, of the physical pastimes that have contributed to the fabric of New Zealand society, only rugby and farming hold an equivalent grasp on the national consciousness.
Names like David Fagan and Godfrey Bowen have become as ingrained in the national psyche as Colin Meads or James McKenzie.
The Golden Shears has as much brand recognition as the Ranfurly Shield or the Young Farmer of the Year.
And the sound of the shearing shed - the grinding of cutter against comb, the bleating of the sheep, and the ''sheep-ho'' cry of the shearer - is as familiar as the grunt of the scrum, a sweetly-timed spiral punt, ''wayleggo'' or the hum of a milking machine.
New Zealand literary and film shearing references litter the cultural landscape as well.
You can hardly pick up a Barry Crump book without reading a few passages on shearing, or shearing sheds, or shearing gangs.
The classic film Came A Hot Friday, based on the Ronald Hugh Morrieson novel, featured an unforgettable scene where a shearing shed was turned into an illicit gambling den.
Even Irish-born poet David McKee Wright got into the act: ''For the shearing's coming round, boys, the shearing's coming round,''And the stations of the mountains have begun to hear the sound.''
Ah, lovely.
Yet those who have worked in the industry, who have battled with an ornery fat ram or tried to smooth out the crinkled shoulder of a merino or bent their back for nine hours or sweated more than 2kg off their already lean frame after a day considered the equivalent of running back-to-back marathons, might say to hell with romance.
It's hard work, and only hard people can handle it.
I don't mind admitting I'm a bit biased when it comes to competitive shearing.
Two of my uncles worked on the boards. A next-door neighbour growing up was noted New Zealand shearing judge Colin Gibson.
My brother, Justin, was a very talented shearer who represented New Zealand.
And I was very talented at avoiding hard labour in our family's shearing shed and even better at sneaking a scone or two at smoko time.
But even putting aside my personal view on the unique art of clipping sheep's wool, the story of how a fairly repetitive occupation turned into an electrifying and vastly under-rated sport is worth telling.
(A quick aside: yes, it's a sport. It is physical and it is competitive. It might never make it to the Olympics, but it is a sport. End of debate.)
Shearing competitions are believed to have started in the early 1900s, but the shift from daily chore to structured sport really gathered pace after the establishment of the then New Zealand Wool Board's shearer training scheme in the mid-1950s.
The competitive shearing circuit grew slowly - up to about 20 competitions were held around the country - before some young farmers coined the name ''Golden Shears'' for a competition in Masterton in 1961.
They could not have known they had just invented a sport's signature event.
The pioneering Bowen brothers, Ivan and Godfrey, attracted all the early interest and soon the Golden Shears had became the standard for New Zealand, if not world, shearing.
Shearers started to like the idea of competing against each other for more than just the top daily tally.
They also got to see more of the country, win the occasional new hand-piece, and experience all sorts of different breeds.
One of the great early figures of competitive shearing was Brian ''Snow'' Quinn, who won the Golden Shears in 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971 and 1972, before famously coming out of retirement to win the world title in 1980.
Quinn, who farms near Alexandra, was just 20 when he competed at his first Golden Shears in 1962.
''The competitions were just starting to get into full swing in those days.
It was just starting to get quite popular.
Godfrey Bowen and Ivan Bowen were sort of at the end of their run and were getting everybody else going,'' he recalled.
Quinn was actually raised on a dairy farm. But one day, he was invited to try some work in a shearing shed, and to his surprise, he found his calling.
''I just liked the job. And then it became a lot of fun to go to the shows, because it was about seeing who could do the job the best.
''The first year I went to the Golden Shears, I couldn't believe it. It was big enough then and it's just got bigger and bigger.''
Competitive shearing quickly had a huge impact on occupational shearing.
Because the top guns were striving to get faster and cleaner, that led to shearers doing a better job on a daily basis.
''It improved the standards of shearing a lot. And that started to happen very quickly,'' Quinn said.
''By the late 1950s, you were seeing shearing people thinking a lot more about quality.''
Shearers of the day weren't in it for the prizemoney. Quinn won events in Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington and Invercargill one year, and just covered his expenses with winnings of $200.
Unlike today's elite shearers, who follow training and nutrition plans as strictly as All Blacks, the ringers of half a century ago took a more relaxed approach.
''In those days, you just got in there, shore the sheep and got out again. I shore for 50 years and never did any training or worried about nutrition,'' Quinn said.
New Zealand has always produced the best shearers because the industry has so much history and the competitive side has been so well structured.
But the national flock has halved over the last 30 years, leading to the obvious concern that New Zealand will lose its competitive clipping edge.
''I know they're struggling to get younger shearers now.
''I suppose with so many cows around, you'll see young guys looking at dairying rather than something like shearing,'' Quinn said.
''Shearing's not a very glamorous job. It's only when you reach the very top level that there's a little bit attached to it.''
For a first-time visitor to a shearing competition, it can all seem a bit loud and chaotic.
Not to mention hot and sweaty and stinky.
But it's a fairly simple process: the shearers compete side by side, each with a set number of sheep (the breed depends on the competition) to haul out of a pen and be disrobed.
Overall points are calculated on a combination of speed and quality (judges look for cuts and wool left on the sheep).
And there is generally a hyper-enthusiastic bloke on a microphone providing a running commentary.
Events litter the New Zealand landscape, from tiny rural A and P shows to the big events in Masterton and Te Kuiti and Alexandra.
Everything comes under the auspices of the well-organised Shearing Sports New Zealand, the governing body for more than 60 competitions.
There is now structured international competition, too.
Golden Shears societies were established in the UK (1964) and Australia (1974), New Zealand has annual tests against Australia, and the first official world championships were in 1977.
New Zealand shearers have won 10 of the 14 world individual titles. The incomparable David Fagan pocketed five, and earlier this year rising star Cam Ferguson claimed the honours in Wales.
Shearing, of course, goes hand in hand with woolhandling, which has experienced its own rise in profile over the years.
Women like Joanne Kumeroa, Sheree Alabaster and Tina Rimene have set the standards on the tables.
If competitive shearing is the sprint, then record shearing is the marathon.
Most of the top records - set across eight or nine hours - have been set by
New Zealanders and in New Zealand sheds.
ON THE WEB: www.shearingsports.co.nz
Hayden Meikle names his six greatest New Zealand shearers.-
1 David Fagan
The chairman of the board. Sixteen Golden Shears titles (including 12 in a row), five world championships, more than 600 open titles - he has set marks that may never be beaten.
2 Snow Quinn
Six Golden Shears titles, a world championship and lent his name to champion pacer Young Quinn.
3 Godfrey Bowen
Developed the great shearing technique, travelled the world promoting the art and competed at the first world championships aged 55. The only shearer in the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
4 Colin King
The left-handed gun from Otorohanga won three Golden Shears in the 1980s, as well as more than 200 open events. Is a National MP for Kaikoura.
5 Paul Avery
Unfortunate to have been in the shadow of Fagan. Won the Golden Shears in 2005 and 2007, and was world champion in 2008.
6 Roger Cox
The first world champion and a three-time winner of the Golden Shears.
A selection of world shearing records.-
INDIVIDUAL
Strong-wool ewes: 721, Rodney Sutton (2007, nine hours); 578, Matthew Smith (2010, eight hours)
Merino ewes: 513, Dwayne Black (2005, nine hours); 466, Cartwright Terry
(2003, eight hours)
Strong-wool lambs: 866, Dion King (2007, nine hours); 736, Ivan Scott (2008, eight hours)
TWO-STAND
Strong-wool ewes: 1335, Darin Forde and Wayne Ingram (1996, nine hours); 986, Stacey Te Huia and Hayden Te Huia (1999, eight hours)
Merino ewes: 924, Michael Terry and Cartwright Terry (2003, eight hours)
Strong-wool lambs: 1637, Rodney Sutton and Nigel Brown (1999, nine hours)
