Organisers and judges commented on the high standard of preparation in this year’s entries, reflecting the amount of passion sheep, goat and alpaca breeders have.
The three-day exhibition was hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand in Rangiora and Golden Fleece working group chairwoman Melissa Jebson said it was great to have the competition up and running again.
"It was brilliant, we started with a working group to restructure the Golden Fleece competition and held many long Zoom meetings to make it happen again this year," Mrs Jebson said.
The last Golden Fleece show was held in Rangiora in 2019 and it was good to see participation in the exhibition building up again after the interruption caused by Covid-19, she said.
Society executive member and south Devon cattle breeder Richard van Asch said the working group and the society appreciated the time and effort taken by exhibitors to get their wool to such a premium standard.
"It was great to see the high standard on show, and I know it’s not easy in the current environment to find the time or to have the motivation to do what they have done."
The strong wool section supreme award went to Rachel Humphries of Feilding, with a Romney shorn hogget fleece judged by Ross McGuckin from Yaldhurst Wools.
In the black and coloured section, judge Dave Burridge from PGG Wrightson Wool said it was a difficult class to judge as the standard was so high.
"Thirty years ago there were very few fleeces entered into the final, it was mainly a crossbreed offering, today nearly half the entries are fine wool and it is exciting to see them all here.
"The champion coloured fleece was an extremely well-grown fleece. The character, the bulk, the handle and the lustre, and more importantly the structure and the staple of the wool had evenness of uniformity right from the butt to the tip.
"For a normal crossbred fleece, it was unique."
The winner of the black and coloured supreme fleece award was Richard Patterson and the estate of AC Patterson of Timaru with a mature Perendale fleece 32 microns and stronger.
Mr Patterson said his late wife Anne was a keen breeder and she had entered the competition many times.
"She started years ago when we were in partnership with my father and brother, she got three black sheep out of the farm flock and the numbers just grew and grew.
"I still have about 300 sheep in the flock."
Richard breeds Perendale white sheep on the 986ha White Rock farm at Hunter Hills near Cannington, South Canterbury, and said it was very hard to get black sheep genes outside of their flock.
He said the Golden Fleece exhibition had benefits for breeders as it promotes quality and it was something to achieve.
