The fourth-generation farmer near Omarama is also a professional wool classer.
After each fleece is shorn, he inspects it for length, thickness, colour, and strength and groups them into uniform lines, before pressing them into bales.
The Sutherland family runs about 13,000 sheep on 5300 hectares of high and hill country at Ahuriri Downs which is combined with their lower dryland Clay Cliffs property as one operation.
The properties feed into the "mothership" of Benmore Station.
"Our whole lives, pretty much, we’ve been brought up with fine wool and merino, and it’s just been a passion.
"As a classer you get to see every fleece you grow. You’re seeing the colour as it comes, you’re seeing the crimping as it comes and the first job I ever do is tensile strength. And if you haven’t got tensile strength then it’s downgraded pretty much straight away."
He tells viewers gaining feedback from brand partners has been invaluable for them and they liked to share their story.
"I mean those early days we produced wool, we classed it, we sent it down the road and we never saw who [used it], didn’t know where it went.
"The whole story of merino has been passion, and just straight drive for the whole industry. But to have that feedback from the other end, it’s pretty brilliant."
Mr Sutherland is among eight farmers appearing in feature videos from New Zealand and Australia who partner with NZM to provide merino and strong wool to brands across the globe.
Videos will be released every two weeks on the other growers from Otago, Canterbury and New South Wales to showcase NZM’s ethical wool programmes which set standards for animal welfare, environmental and social care.
NZM global supply general manager Matt Hand said the videos highlighted some of the skill, art and process that went into certified wool products.
"There is a huge amount of work and care that our growers put in to produce high quality, ethical and sustainable wool, as part of our ZQ certification. The videos capture some of the people, land and stories."
He said they would be used to connect farmers to international brands and consumers.
NZM works with more than 600 farmers in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
