Shear bliss for pampered sheep in New Zealand

WANAKA, New Zealand — Classical music, soft mattresses and the gentlest touch of a wool clipper: welcome to the New Zealand farm indulging what may be the world's most pampered sheep.

Forget any preconceptions of rough-hewed shearers manhandling the flock as they quickly deprive them of their fleece in crowded, noisy wool sheds.

At Lake Hawea Station on New Zealand's South Island, owners Geoff and Justine Ross are advocates of the gentler, more soothing art of "slow-shearing".