page_title: Blade shearing
section_title: New Zealand
hierarchical_section_title: Blade shearing / Occupational / New Zealand
caption_attribution_description: English: Shearers working on a station near Omarama, Otago, NZ
context_page_description: Blade shearing or hand shearing is the style of shearing sheep and other animals with fibrous coats with a set of specialized scissors. It is practiced in many parts of the world as both an occupation and a sport. Commercial blade shearers shear on average 140 sheep in an 8-hour working day, but some will shear over 200 sheep in a day.
context_section_description: In New Zealand, there are still approximately 40 commercial blade shearers who work between July and October each year. Between these shearers, 400,000 sheep are shorn each year in New Zealand, mostly in Otago and the Canterbury high country. Blade shearers in New Zealand usually travel to sheds in groups of 5 or 6 shearers and usually live on the station during shearing. Often they will stay on the station for up to a week shearing around 1000 sheep per day. Most of the sheep that are blade shorn in New Zealand are fine wooled Merino. 
  The main reason sheep are still blade shorn in New Zealand is due to the harsh climate at the time of shearing. Blade shearing leaves a thicker cover of wool on the sheep after shearing giving it more protection from storms and also the wool grows back faster after blade shearing than machine shearing.
caption: Shearers working on a station near Omarama, Otago, NZ
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