New Manager For New Zealand Team At World Shearing Champs

An award-winning Northern Hawke’s Bay farmer, shearing competitions judge and former record-breaking shearer has been named as a late replacement to manage the Shearing Sports New Zealand team at the 20th Golden Shears Shearing and Woolhandling Championhips in Masterton on March 4-7.

He is Bart Hadfield, who takes the place of original selection Lance Waddell, who was unable to take up the appointment.

Shearing Sports New Zealand congratulated all seven who “put their hands up” at short notice as candidates to manage the team of six, which will comprise two machine shearers, two blade shearers and two woolhandlers.

Mr Hadfield has been a shearing judge for 21 years and officiated at the 2019 World championships in France, and at the weekend at a successful World record attempt in the South Island.

As a shearer he has been a Golden Shears Open semi-finalist and was part of a crew that set a World three-stand lambs record for nine hours in 1997.

A son and daughter have also been competitive shearers.

In 2015 Mr hadfield and wife Nukuhia won the Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori excellence in sheep and beef farming, for their running of Mangaroa Station, off the inland route between Wairoa and Gisborne, and they were for several years organisers of the Wairoa A and P Show shearing championships.

Mr Hadfield was also a delegate to the Shearing Sports New Zealand national committee for several terms before standing down last year.

He said he and his wife had been planning to be “just spectators” at the World Championships, and he was surprised to have been appointed given what he understood was a high quality of contenders for the position of manager.

Four of the six team members have already been named, being 2019 World champion South Canterbury blade shearing pair Allan Oldfield and Tony Dobbs, and Golden Shears machine shearing and woolhandling champions Toa Henderson, of Kaiwaka (Northland) and Joel Henare, of Motueka, respectively.

The remaining machine shearer and woolhandler will be named after selection series' finals at the Rangitikei Shearing Sports North Island Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Marton Saturday.

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