Compétition Françaises de Woolhandling: international BISCA rules. French version translated and arranged by Lucie Grancher I) General rules 1) A drawn will be made prior to the start of the competition to determine the heats and stand of each competitor. 2) Competitors must have the opportunity to inspect sheep before they are penned and request removal of any sheep that is considered sustandard. The end decision will be taken by the referee. They may nominate the order of sheep unless the even is a multi wool event where the order is set in place. 3) Each competitor wil attend one or two shearers. Shearers must opperate in a designated procedure which is synchronised and staggered (see appendix 1). No hindrance or contact with the shearer is allowed. Blatant assistance by the shearer will be allowed. 4) Competitors board, floor area and slatted table must be clean at the start. 5) Each time the shearer brings a sheep onto the board, the shearing area must be clean. 6) Oddments are placed in the appropriate bins straight away. 7) The slatted table must be used for skirting and rolling the fleece and must be cleaned before each throw. Penalities will apply where the thrown fleece is not flat and fully exposed on the table, where fleece is hanging over and off the table, nd when the fleece is not the right way up (tips must be up and skin side must be on the table). 8) All fleeces must be rolled from the britch to the neck and secured by a neck tuck-in. A waiting fleece must be placed on a clean floor area. 9) When a rolled fleece is placed in the allocated container it is deemed to be finished and can be removed for «table judging». 10) All wools must be kept wthin the designated area.
11) On completion the work area is left clean. finished. 12) Competitors must not interfere with their wools after hey have signaled that they have 13) Competitors must be suitably attired (footwear, sponsor logo...) 14) Competitors are responsable for supllying their own broom. 15) All competitors compete at their own risk. 16) A judge has the right to switch off the machine or disqualify any competitor whose work or conduct s detrimental to the image of the competition and the show. 17) The referee judge will have the overall responsability for the running of the competition. Any dispute must be logged with the referee within 30 minutes of the completion of the event. 18) Should any stopage occur through no fault of the competitor (machine stoppage, sheep escape...) a time allowance or a re-run will be given at the referee's discretion. The wool-handler must stop work during the period of stoppage.
II) Methods of scoring Time: Time starts simultaneously on completion of shearng (when the last shearer of each competitor stops his machine) and ends at the raised hand signal of competitor. Time in seconds is divided by 1 point per each 10 seconds. Board: The judges operational penalty points are totalled. Table: The judges table penalty points (located out of sight of competitors and public) for the work on fleeces and oddments are totalled. Then, board, table and time penalty points are entred and totalled on an score sheet and the competitor with the lowest score is the winner. In the event of a tie, The competitor with the lowest table penalties will take precedence. It there is still a tie, he competitor with the lowest board work penalties will take precedence.
III) Suggested penalties. Abréviation Format Pénalités en points CC Credit card size 85x55mm 1 penalty point A4 (for thows only) Paper A4 300x200 1 penalti point DP Discretionary penalty Range of penalty FP Fixed penalty 5 or 10 points Grid size for process judging 100x150mm. Suggested the grid contains 5x5 rectangles (500x750mm). Oddment fault measure 1 rectangle 100x150 3 penalty points Fleece fault measure 1 rectangle 100x150 4 penalty points Black wool, urine or pizzle stain, skin or dags 1 rectangle 25x25mm 5 penalty points Board penalties Board best practice Penalty Comments Start with a clean work area and ensure hand held counter is on 0 CC Check with the juges the counter is at 0. Clear belly wool and frib FP Shearer obliged to clear belly wool. No shearer hindrance. Clear all faults from crutch and sox area. CC No contamination of fleece wool. Clear eyeclips. CC idem Clear all short or discoloured wools. CC idem Clear board before next sheep is out CC idem Use of fleece to sweep the board FP 10 pts No attempt to clear cruch area FP/CC 10 pts + 1 pt each CC No piles on the board DP No contamination.
Table penalties Best practice penalty Comments Any waiting fleece on a clean floor free of contamination A full wool fleece must be thrown on the slatted table Fleece must be tidily rolled and placed in bin. Slatted table top to be clean before next throw CC A4 DP CC Ensure floor is clean before placing fleece on the floor. Neck to be at the top and back legs at bottom of slatted table. Fleece must land flat, free of folds, overlap or over hang. 0 to 10 pts Fleeces must be rolled from britch to neck, tidy and compact, laced in the bin not thrown. No wool to be left on slatted table top. Clean up penalties Faultes Ab Commentaire All wool must be in the provided containers. FP 5 pts Wool on floor only if all containers have been used. End general tidy up CC The whole work area must be clean. General work faults Faults Penalty Comments Wool ouside the competitors space FP 5 pts Retrieve any wool ouside your area. No shearer hindrance FP 5pts Take care not to interfere with the shearer No competitiors on the board FP 5 pts 1 foot kept on the ground at all time. No interference with wool after time FP 10 pts Do not touch wool after time has been signaled. Possible DQ after warning. Blatant shearer assisance FP 5 pts No shearer request other than belly placement. Judging area restriced to approuved personnel only FP 5pts No competitiors in judging area exept at discretion of wool referee. Possible DQ after warning.
IV) Different accepted lines Minimum stapple length recommended: 10 months growth. 1) Fleece: Is the main body wool free of processing faults and even for length and colour. Lenght commonly between 8 to 20cm. 2) Oddment lines: Oddments are all the other lines sorted out of the the main line to avoid contamination. They are acording the type of sheep shorn and each fleece. Denomination Belly Crutch / Sox Description Is the wool removed from the belly of the sheep, shorter, stronger and dirtier than the fleece, sometimes cotty. Crutch: is the wool from all the britch area. Dirtier, shorter, stronger then the fleece. Sox: Is the wool from the end of the leg. Very short, contains a lot of medulated fibres and is strong and dirty. Eyeclips Skirting Second cuts Parts of fleece Are the face and head caps that contain medulated fibres and are shorted and can also be cotty. Made of the uneven wools removed form skirting the fleece on the slatted table. This includes matted neck wool. Are the shorter wools, mainly from floor sweeping but also from board sweeping. Some parts of a fleece may need removal: cotty parts (hardly breakable), ellow parts (deep canary yellow only), or bad vegetable matter area. Discoloured wools Can be kept in one single container: black wool, blood, urine or pizzle stain, paint. Other faults We find mainly dags, skin or little sticks caught in the wool. This line is what is going to the rubish and can be kept in one single container.
Correspondance page, Set up questions The different lines have been adapted in order to make it the most sensible with the way the wool is being treated in France. Questions 1) Judges penalty grid: where can I find one? 2) Any support document about how fast and together must the shearers work together? (I'm thinking about that document Brian gave me with all the rules and a page showing how the woolhandler should manage his work timing between the 2 shearers...). 3) What is the accepted size for competitor work area? 4) Could I have more presisions about time scoring?