At 2pm yesterday, the exhausted pair completed what is believed to be a New Zealand first, a 24 hour shearing marathon, which had been 18 months in the planning.
The ''Shear For Life'' event was held in Peter Jolly's woolshed near Tarras township, with sheep provided by Lindis Crossing station manager Matt O'Brien and equipment by Heiniger NZ.
At last count - although money was still trickling in - Mr Wells and Mr Hill had raised $39,068 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, after shearing 952 and 653 cross bred sheep respectively.
Mr Wells (29), of Moa Flat, lost both his grandfathers to cancer, while Mr Hill (34), from the Teviot Valley, lost his father to the disease.
The pair started shearing at 6am on Saturday, but took regular breaks, including one every four hours for a short shower, power nap, food, drink and physio treatment.
''People said it was going to be tough, but until you do it you don't realise how tough it is,'' Mr Hill said after hanging up his shears for the final time.
''The night was the killer really ... It was a dark place.''
He was most looking forward to a ''decent shower'' at the end of the challenge, while ''just chilling out'' was Mr Hill's priority.
Brendon Potae, of Heiniger NZ, has been involved with 19 world shearing records and helped train the men, who had limited previous shearing experience.
''Shearing is the most physically demanding job that you'll ever do ... [and] they're farmers that shear a little bit,'' Mr Potae said.
He predicted the pain would really set in in the days to come.
''They're looking at 14 days before they can untie their shoelaces without getting cramp after this. They've run three back to back marathons pretty much.''
Both men had their wives and young children cheering them on inside the woolshed, along with a huge crowd of supporters who came and went throughout the total 32 hours, including Prostate Cancer Foundation chief executive Graeme Woodside who flew from Auckland for the event.
