A PAIR of champion sheep shearers from Tavistock have won a major shearing contest for England for the second time, beating off stiff competition from teams from across the UK and further afield, writes Sarah Pitt.

Father and son team George and Andrew Mudge won the Six Nations Blade Shearing Competition annual contest held at the Royal Bath and West Show in Somerset last Thursday. The Mudges, who farm at Collaton near Tavistock, were defending their title as English Blade Shearer Champions, having won the contest the last time it was held, pre-covid back in 2019 in Southern Ireland.

They were shearing against Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Eire and France and competition was stiff.

Andrew said: ‘We had to shear eight sheep between us, so four each, and it is a competition for the fastest and the cleanest job and we won.’

The contest involves shearing the sheep by hand, with blades, just as it would have been done many years ago.

‘The blades are what they used to use hundreds of years ago and it is almost a dying art, but in fact there are more people coming back into it because of the competitions,’ said Andrew. ‘There was a record number of shearers in the open competition [at the Royal Bath and West Show].‘In the Six Nations there are two shearers from each country. It is the two shearers who came top in the previous year. This is only the second time that England has managed to win and the last time was in 2019.’As the winners on both occasions, with a trophy cabinet that must be bristling with silverware from their many wins, the Mudges remain matter of fact about their success. ‘It is practice,’ said Andrew, 41. ‘I have been doing it for nearly 20 years, this is my 20th season, and my dad has been doing it for 25 years. He is 75 so he is one of the oldest qualifying blade sheares.’

The contest is one of a packed programme that the Mudges will be taking part in this year., gathering points at nine qualifying contests for the Golden Shears Sheep Shearing World Champions at the Royal Highland Show in June next year.

‘We are all trying to gather enough points to qualify for that. So far, I’m in top position and dad’s in ninth,’ said Andrew. ‘Our next show is the Three Counties in Malvern on June 18. Then it is the Royal Highland Show.’