Hayden Meikle: How did it feel to win yet another New Zealand championship title, your 17th, in Te Kuiti earlier this month?
David Fagan: It was pretty special, with what was riding on it this year with a place in the New Zealand team to Wales.
Everyone was striving to make that team. The atmosphere was incredible and there was a huge sense of anticipation.
It was probably one of the biggest wins I've ever had.
HM: Was there a point this season where you made it your No 1 goal?
DF: All season. Yeah, right from October-November.
It was the same for all of us, and that's why it was always going to be so intense.
Two spots in the New Zealand team isn't many when there are so many good shearers in the country.
HM: Afterwards, you said, "I'm probably past my prime." When was your prime?
DF: Oh, probably five or six years ago.
But I seem to be able to find it now and again. That was pretty good the other night.
HM: Does experience kick in on a big occasion like the New Zealand championships?
DF: Yeah, it does. Experience, and the huge pressure that goes on everyone to make the New Zealand team.
I thrive on those occasions.
HM: So you're off to the world championships in Wales in July. Can you win?
DF: That's what I made the team for. My wife and I spoke about it on the day of the New Zealand champs.
I had to treat that event like the world championship.
From a Kiwi point of view, you basically have to win the world title twice.
You've got to qualify, for a start, and then win it over there.
I'm pretty excited about having that chance again.
HM: What do you make of Cam Ferguson, who won the Golden Shears and is joining you in Wales?
DF: He's been competing for about six years.
He's been in the wings up till now and he's had a very good season. I think he won six or eight shows.
I was second to him in the Southern Shears at Gore. He won the Otago championships at Balclutha, so the writing has been on the wall.
He's taken his chances and he'll go well in Wales.
HM: At 26, he's 22 years younger than you. Does he call you Dad?
DF: Ha, no, not at all.
HM: You've won five world individual titles, six world team titles and 16 Golden Shears titles. Don't you start to lose track?
DF: Oh, sometimes you do. But you always remember the big ones. I've got a grand total of 598 wins.
The last couple of years I've started thinking about 600.
HM: How do you shear differently or how do you approach the sport differently now compared with when you were younger?
DF: I'm probably a bit more casual about it now. I don't shear for a living.
I'm just doing enough so I can still compete. I just enjoy it and I love competing.
It's that challenge that keeps me going.
HM: Some other mature athletes find their competitive fire burns out. Have you ever analysed why you still get a buzz out of what you do?
DF: Not really. It wanes a bit now and again.
But the bigger the event, the easier it is to get motivated. I enjoy the big shows.
HM: At 48, what are you doing to stay in shape?
DF: Part-time shearing and quite a bit of work on the treadmill at home.
I haven't done a lot for the last couple of weeks but I'll crank up again in May.
HM: How many thousand sheep would you shear a season now?
DF: Oh, it's well down. Maybe just 4000-5000. That's working for me.
I don't want to shear full-time any more.
HM: Were you always conscious of things like nutrition and fitness, or did that start later in your career?
DF: Pretty much all the time. I started learning about that when I started getting into world records.
That was quite early on. I think my first world record was 1985.
You learn a lot about how to fuel your body and what you can get out of it.
HM: So did you get into the science of shearing - how much energy you expend and the strain it puts on your body?
DF: Not really, no. I just know it's bloody hard. But hard work never killed anyone.
There are worse things young fellas could be doing with their lives.
People moan about hard work but it's good for you.
HM: How do you think the image of shearing and shearers has changed in the last 30 years?
DF: I think it's changed a lot because of the competitions.
You've got guys striving to get into the New Zealand team and earn trips around the world.
That's added so much to the sport side of shearing. Everyone's got more serious about what they're doing.
The competitions have raised the quality of shearing so much, and that flows on to the workplace.
HM: Do you think shearing is under-rated as a competitive sport?
DF: It's always going to be a minor sport and there's no use debating that. Sparc have funded the shearing team going away for several years, and they're funding us again to Wales this year.
They class it as a minor sport and that's fine. We're rapt to get Sparc funding.
HM: Do you feel you and the other top shearers have had the recognition you deserve?
DF: I've been asked that a bit. I haven't got any problem with it.
Recognition is something for your peers and administrators and the wider public to decide.
I go into competitions to win them, not for recognition. I've had a couple of New Zealand honours and that's great for our sport.
HM: Can you identify one career highlight or is that impossible?
DF: Too many to mention. And I haven't finished yet.
HM: Favourite breed to shear?
DF: Anything that's even. The most frustrating thing is a shearing competition is not having even sheep.
I get really wound up when people talk about a competition being the luck of the draw.
You go there to find out who's the best. It's frustrating when some people put uneven sheep in a competition.
HM: Favourite place in the world to shear?
DF: Probably Wales, just because the sheep are good shearing and the Welsh guys are great.
The most unique place would be the north of Italy. That was pretty special.
I worked there for a season up round Milan and north of Venice.
HM: Does the New Zealand shearing team have a name? The Black Singlets? The Black Combs?
DF: No, not at all. We're not into that airy-fairy rubbish.
HM: Who's the next great New Zealand shearer?
DF: Um, that's entirely up to them. I would never want to pick someone. It depends how badly those young shearers want it. It's wide open.
HM: You at your peak versus Snow Quinn at his peak versus the Bowen brothers at their peak - who wins?
DF: I wouldn't even go there. You can't compare people from different eras. I'm always looking forward, never back.
