In a cavernous shed at the Otago-Taieri A&P grounds, Andrew McNeill and Kevin Waldron have been judging 120 fleeces from throughout New Zealand.
The fleeces judged the best at Royal Agricultural Society events around the country over the summer have been brought together for the ultimate judging - the society's national Golden Fleece competition.
Just who will take away the top honours cannot be revealed until an award ceremony tomorrow night, but the judges, who have nearly 60 years of woolclassing experience between them, can say they have been impressed.
''It's been a very good growing season - the standard has been very high,'' Mr Waldron, from PGG Wrightson, said.
This occasion was the first time the competition had been hosted by the Otago-Taieri A&P Society.
To find the top fleece they were separated into merino, half-bred, crossbred and hogget types before being weighed.
Then, the serious judging began, with each entry judged on its cleanliness (it accounts for 35% of the overall score), its colour, soundness, staple (piece of fleece) length, evenness of the crimp (waves) in the fleece, staple formation and then any faults are noted.
Mr McNeill, Merino New Zealand's Otago area manager, said the aim was to improve the standard of wool throughout the country.
The entries showed fleece weights were higher this year.
''The better the weight, the more the farmer gets paid.''
Members of the public would be able to view the fleeces from tomorrow afternoon and the award ceremony and fashion parade in the evening would be followed by a dinner featuring special guest David Fagan, New Zealand's most successful competition sheep shearer.
