Four women showed their grit to set a world record of shearing more than 1900 strongwool lambs in eight hours in South Otago.The four-stand women’s eight-hours strongwool lamb record holders are Ariana ‘‘Missy’’ Te Whata, of Mossburn in Southland, Pagan Rimene, of Alexandra, Rose Lewis, of Manutūkē on the East Coast and Te Atakura Crawford, of Gisborne.The team shore 1938 romney lambs Melrose Station in Slopedown, south of Clinton, between 7.30am and 5.30pm last week.
Te Whata shore 504 lambs, Rimene shore 481 and Lewis 423.
There was no previous record for the category recognised by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.
Increasing the pace all day, the women shore 475 in the first two hours to morning tea, 479 in the next run to lunch, and 492 in both of the runs after lunch.
Event organiser and father of Rimene, Dion Morrell, of Alexandra, said it was the first time any of the women had taken part in a world record attempt.
‘‘The girls showed some grit.’’
The women had a bright future in the sport and were an inspiration, he said.
‘‘There is a few young women watching today and you already know what they are thinking.’’
Rimene had worked in the woolshed on the station and approached the farm owners, the Wilson family, about holding the event on their property.
‘‘They were kind enough to allow them to use the sheep.’’
He estimated the cost to hold the event was more than $40,000.
Shearing record attempts were becoming less frequent, he said.
‘‘Many years ago, you’d see these annually in Southland and Otago, we don’t see it that much any more, especially for ladies.’’
Reasons include the cost to run the event, a smaller national flock and a change in sheep breeds.
He believed the best shearing sheep in the world were in Otago and Southland about 20 years ago.
Now, farmers were running more composite sheep breeds to chase the lamb market.
‘‘The wool doesn’t comb quite as good,’’ Mr Morrell said.
The Wilson family valued strongwool and maintained the romney genetics in their flock.
‘‘They still back the product.’’
Although he sold his run about a year ago, the shearing industry was ‘‘hard-wired in my blood’’.
He used the term ‘‘retired’’ loosely, he said.
‘‘I am busy as I ever was, only now, nobody pays me for it.’’
A sample shear of 20 lambs on Monday averaged 1.228kg of wool per lamb, well over the minimum of 0.9kg required for the seven referees to allow the attempt to go ahead.
The event was headed-up by Scott Cameron, of Southern Wide Shearing, and the referees were convener Mark Buscomb, of Australia, and New Zealand officials Neil Fagan, Bart Hadfield, Ronnie King, Alistair Emslie, Johnny Fraser and Donald Johnston.
The event was the first of two multi-stand shearing record attempts in the southern regions this summer.
Shearers Shane Ratima, Paerata Abraham and Leon Samuels will take on the three-stand, eight-hours strongwool lambs record at Waihelo Station in Moa Flat, West Otago this Saturday.
The current record of 1976 was set by Coel L’Huillier, Kaleb Foote and Daniel Langlands at Puketītī Station, near Piopio in 2019.
