Nineteen intense shearing competitions saw Josh Balme (Year 11) take out the title for No 1 Ranked Junior NZ Machine Shearer. Balme accumulated enough points to win the title by securing seven wins and 10 placings during the 19 competitions held against full time shearers.
His success for the 2013/14 competitive shearing season stated at Golden Shears, a shearing and woolhandling competition, earlier in the year where he placed third out of 66 competitors who are full-time shearers. Balme experienced a difficult shear during this competition but kept his cool and battled on to produce quality shears despite the hurdles, gaining a spot in the top three.
Balme’s season finished on a high with the youngster securing second place in the Junior Shearing Competition at the Coca Cola Easter Show held over the Easter weekend. Overall a successful season for Balme who started competing three months into the season.
