A small nick on the brisket is a minor error. But every false blow, or "second-cut", incurs a penalty. We are, of course, talking about the sport (and it stoutly claims that designation) of international competitive sheep shearing.
The pinnacle of this strenuous contest of skill will be seen in Gorey, Co Wexford, this summer. Against stiff international competition, particularly from South Africa and Yorkshire, Gorey last year won the honour of staging the 1998 Golden Shears World Sheep Shearing Championships - the Olympics of the shearing world.
A voluntary committee of local businessmen and farmers is now working hard to ensure that the three days of intense competition, from June 5th-7th, will be a showcase event for the county.
Gorey Rugby Club will be the venue and up to 50,000 people are expected to attend. Teams and individual competitors from 25 countries will take part, and about 5,500 sheep will be sheared.
The first staging of these world championships in Ireland will be a major tourism event. A three-acre tented village will be erected, and there will be sheepdog trials, a livestock show, a spectacular display of Irish fashions and over 100 trade stands.
But the highlight, of course, will be the shearing contest.
Organised shearing competitions are thought to have begun in New Zealand around the turn of the last century and national championships were held there on a regular basis after the second World War. After Golden Shears Societies were established in England in 1964 and Australia 10 years later, there was a natural progression to the first official world championships, held at Shepton Mallet in England in 1977.
A stringent set of rules evolved, and shearing is judged "on the board" and "out the back" by a panel of at least 10 judges. The actual shearing - "on the board" - is closely assessed, with every false blow costing a penalty, while "out the back" the judges assess the shorn sheep for nicks, cuts, scratches and wool left on.
The main competition tent at Gorey will be close to an acre in size with seating for 2,000 and some 400 shearers will compete in 20 competitions. The current world champion, David Fagan, of New Zealand, will be defending his title and Ireland's individual contestants will be George Graham, from Gorey, and Tom Kennedy from Athenry, Co Galway.
George Graham is the current Irish record holder for shearing the most sheep - 483 - in nine hours.
The Gorey area is a rich sheep farming region and large numbers of the Suffolk/Cheviot Cross sheep are available for shearing on local farms.
Mr Charlie O'Loughlin, chairman of the organising committee, says that local community groups and voluntary bodies, from the GAA, IFA and the Red Cross, have been involved in the preparatory work and extensive business sponsorship has been secured.
It will be a family festive occasion as well as a keenly-fought sporting event, and the international guests expected include the New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr Jim Bolger.
While on the subject of Co Wexford, the author of this column must apologise abjectly to his friends and readers in the county for referring to it last week as the "Banner County". As one indignant caller put it, "the whole world knows that Clare is the Banner County", and Wexford is, of course, the Model County. The aberration is regretted.