The sheep are ready and the stage is set as the new shearing sports season begins in Alexandra today.
The two-day New Zealand Merino Championships is the first date for shearers and woolhandlers on a busy six-month calendar.
There may be a transtasman undercurrent to proceedings as Kiwis Grant Smith and Stacey Te Huia attempt to hit back against their Australian counterparts following defeat in Perth last weekend.
Hometown favourite and recently crowned world champion Pagan Karauria returns to the fold for the open woolhandling championship event.
Karauria won the World Woolhandling Championship alongside Taihape's Sheree Alabaster in Le Dorat, France, in July.
Nearly 60 shearing sports events are to be held throughout the country during the 2019-20 season.
For open-class shearers, the merino championships at Alexandra's Molyneux Stadium is the first of five qualifying rounds in the PGG Wrightson Wool National Shearing Circuit.
