Following the company's 51-year tenure in the South, business partners Bill Potae and Jim Murdoch have sold to South Otago couple Jason and Shara Davis, of Davis Shearing Contractors Ltd.
While some believed it was the wrong time to get out of the business after the reversal in fortunes for sheep farmers, Mr Murdoch reckoned it was the right time.
"Probably the greatest thing for me is to go out of the industry when farmers have got a big smile on their faces again. The frowns are gone," he said.
Potae Shearing was founded by Bill Potae's brother, George Potae, who, after being brought up in the Coromandel, headed South, attracted by plenty of sheep and better money.
He founded Potae Shearing, starting with just one or two gangs, but the business quickly grew.
When Mr Potae returned to the Coromandel, his younger brother Bill and Mr Murdoch took over the business in 1987. George Potae died in 2006.
The two men worked together "pretty well" and while they were "totally different" in nature, they complemented each other, Mr Murdoch said.
Mr Potae ran the office and organised the work, while Mr Murdoch was responsible for communication with clients.
He was full of praise for those hard-working men and women in the shearing industry, saying there were few people in the country who were sweating from 7am in the morning.
The business had employed some "very good staff" over the years, including Golden Shears and national wool-handling title winners.
Mr Murdoch, who began shearing in the mid-1960s, said it had been hard work and "pretty demanding" at times "but I can't say I've been sorry".
"The harder you worked, the better the lifestyle it gave you. It's been very generous to me in some respects."
While he had always intended to eventually buy a farm and "never quite got there", he had no regrets. He had met a lot of nice people and particularly appreciated the comments made recently by clients during the changeover.
The biggest change he had seen was the decline of sheep numbers and he was thrilled to see returns improve for those who had stuck with the industry.
"They can see where they are going. A lot of them were [previously] just marking time, disillusioned with the industry."
He believed wool prices needed to lift by about a third again to "start looking really good".
Mr Murdoch was looking forward to spending more time with his family, including visiting family members overseas.
For Bill Potae, who shifted south in the 1960s, it had been an "incredible journey" and he "wouldn't have it any other way".
He will work for Mr and Mrs Davis for 12 months to help with the transition. Then he hoped to play more golf, he said with a laugh.
Like Mr Murdoch, he had enjoyed the "incredible" people he had worked and dealt with and he would miss that contact.
He was pleased to see a young couple, with their own established business, take over. "I wouldn't want our clients to have some fly-by-nighter," he said.
Ron Davis established Ron Davis Shearing Contractors Ltd in 1981 and it was taken over by his son, Jason, and daughter-in-law, Shara, four years ago.
Jason Davis said it was quite an honour to take over the Potae run. The acquisition would give staff more continuity of work and lengthen their season.
At last, sheep farmers were getting some returns for their hard work and it was promising to see some young farmers taking over. That had to be good for the industry and the country, he said.