Fagan (49) narrowly won the title from Nathan Stratford of Invercargill, with Matthew Smith (Ruawai) finishing third.
While Stratford finished his pen first, it was Fagan's quality which won him the title.
In the open blades, Timaru's Billy Michelle reversed last year's result by beating Mike McConnell (Cave). Michelle was fresh from his win at the New Zealand merino shearing championships at Alexandra at the end of last month.
The field for this year's Waimate shears was stronger than last year.
The junior, intermediate and senior machine shearing grades were full, with good numbers also entered in the open machine and open blades sections. Some competitors, who had not entered, were waiting on the day for vacancies to open up in some sections.
Results were:
Open: David Fagan (Te Kuiti) 1, Nathan Stratford (Invercargill 2), Matthew Smith (Ruawai) 3.
Senior: Brett Roberts (Mataura) 1, Kieran Devane (Taihape) 2, Shaun Matheson (Riverton) 3.
Intermediate: Linton Palmer (Dipton) 1, Tui Pene (Waipawa) 2, Aku Waihape (Mataura) 3.
Junior: Andrew Leith (Dipton) 1, Rob Hewett (Palmerston) 2, Sam Murphy (Waimate) 3.
Open blades: Billy Michelle (Timaru) 1, Mike McConnell (Cave) 2, Brian Thomson (Christchurch) 3.
