867 Lambs in Nine Hours: The World of Competitive Sheep Shearing
I wrote this in 2016 or 2017 during the two years I lived in New Zealand. Some details — prices, hours, what’s open — may have changed, but the experience and my love for this place haven’t.
Yesterday’s news had a headline about an Irish sheep shearer named Ivan Scott who broke a Kiwi’s world record for sheep shearing. Scott, a 35-year-old from Kilmacrennan in County Donegal, sheared 867 lambs in nine hours — averaging one lamb every 37 seconds. He beat the previous record by exactly one lamb. That record had been held since 2007 by then-reigning Golden Shears champion Dion King, a Hawke’s Bay shearer. It was the first time the record had ever been held by anyone from the northern hemisphere.
And while Ivan Scott is Irish, he has worked every shearing season in New Zealand since 2000. That tells you something about where the world’s shearing talent lives and trains.
Sheep shearing is hard work and not for the faint of heart. The base rate per 100 sheep in New Zealand is something like $105 — a good payout if you’re quick, but grueling work. Shearing is its own competitive sport here, with the Golden Shears championship one of the most prestigious events on the calendar.
If you want to see shearing in action — besides on someone’s actual farm — the best place I know is a place called Sheep World, north of Auckland. We stumbled upon it accidentally during a drive up the North Island and were lucky enough to catch the show timing. I had only been living in NZ for a couple of months at the time and rolled my eyes when my partner wanted to stop. I went anyway.
I was pleasantly surprised and had a great time. They do a good demonstration of how to shear a sheep but they also show you how they work the dogs and how it all ties in together. And the shop has lots of reasonably priced (compared to the tourist shops) wool to buy.
Note that during the show they ask for volunteers for shearing the sheep and sorting them. When we bring guests for the first time we sometimes chat with the show person to make sure they pick on our guests :-). After the show you can walk around the grounds and they sell food for the animals in the gift shop.
