Golden Shears: The farmer's a Junior champ, aged 43

Mark Ferguson won junior shearing championship. Photo/Doug Laing

Kahuranaki farmer Mark Ferguson was yesterday still walking around in disbelief, 24 hours after nailing New Zealand's biggest Junior shearing title - at the age of 43.

But it was a surprise surpassed even more when, after driving home from the Golden Shears in Masterton on Saturday to look after the farm south of Havelock North, he watched the live-streaming of Saturday night's Open final, and then heard his name called as the winner of the championships' top award for quality.

He'd never heard of the R.E. O'Hara Memorial Trophy, which carries some of New Zealand's most famous shearing names, and says even if he had and someone had said he was in the running he wouldn't have believed them.

"They're champions," he said. "I was just pleased to be there, I thought I'd already milked it for all I could. I'm absolutely floored."

He's not new to shearing but since shearing in a gang years ago had shorn mainly only his own sheep and occasionally neighbours', without ever thinking of going show shearing.

In December, helping out a neighbour amid a toughening Hawke's Bay summer, he met 2010 Golden Shears and World champion Cam Ferguson, who soon worked out there was another possible show shearer in the shed.

To cut a long story short, they chatted over smoko, worked out they weren't related and got on with preparing Mark Ferguson for competition shearing.

He says he was so nervous at his first attempt at the Dannevirke Show on February 3 he barely remembers it, just missing a place in a semifinal.

But the next day he won at Marton, a week later he was third at Te Puke, and then won at Pahiatua a few days before the trip to Masterton, all in the Junior class which is governed by numbers of competition wins or daily tallies shorn in the woolshed.

A few weeks ago he was barely aware there were any other competitions other than Golden Shears, for which he had to borrow a handpiece.

He had his own, but shearers were able to take two on to the stand.

"It's a pretty steep learning curve," he said.