Stacey Te Huia, of Alexandra, will aim to break the nine-hour merino wethers record of 418 set by Canterbury shearer Grant Smith 20 years ago.
He will be shearing at The Bend, off Paerau Rd about 10km from Ranfurly, and he will pick up the shears at 5am.
Most records are set on ewes or lambs, and only one other record on wethers has been added to the books of the World Sheep Shearing Records Society during the past decade.
The requirement of a minimum of 4kg of wool per sheep is the heaviest standard of all record categories, and if Te Huia is successful he will have shorn well over 1.6 tonnes of wool during the day — possibly the most wool he’ll shear in a day in a career averaging more than 50,000 sheep a year at present.
The attempt was originally scheduled for December 7, but was postponed because the weight would not have been met.
A sample shear was set to be done for the judges late yesterday to ensure the requirement can be met.
As well as the merino ewes record set in Australia, Te Huia is also the current holder of the two-stand, nine-hour, strong-wool ewes record, set in 2012 with Waikato shearer Sam Welch.
His first record was the two-stand, eight-hour, strong-wool ewes record set with with brother Hayden in 1999, and his second a solo, eight-hour, strong-wool ewes record set in 2010.
