An enterprising sheep stole some of the limelight at the Ellesmere A&P Show on Saturday, gatecrashing a ribbon ceremony and masquerading as an alpaca.
The sheep escaped from a pen at the shearing shed - however, its cunning plan came unstuck when there weren't enough ribbons to go around.
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It left the opportunist ovine without so much as a stitch of silk to wear and barely anywhere to hide, said organisers.
"The sheep looked decidedly sheepish as it stood beside the beribboned alpaca section winners with their owners in the main oval," they said.
Jason Palmer, organiser of the shearing competition at the show at Leeston, 40km southwest of Christchurch, said it wasn't the only sheep that made such a stark bid for freedom - but he wasn't too worried.
"Sheep during the day gave a good crowd spectacle by jumping out of the pens both before and after being shorn," he said. "This one ended up making friends with an alpaca."
The shearing competition was the third in the South Island in a nationwide programme of about 60 shearing sports shows throughout the country in the 2018-2019 season.
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