Izzy Ferguson is following in his father's shearing blows. Made with funding from NZ On Air.
Champion Hawke's Bay shearer Cam Ferguson once held a World record.
But the 742 lambs he sheared in a day back in January 2011 isn't a patch on 6-year-old son Izzy's best tally, an amazing 1025 in one day during the school holidays last month.
But whether that's a record or not isn't clear. The books don't have records for play-shearing teddy bears.
The tally came at his aunt's place while 2010 Golden Shears and World champion Ferguson was away at work, getting in some practice for this year's World championships in France in July.
"He loves it, he does it all the time," said Ferguson as the young gun ripped-through another five or six in front of the TV, trying to beat his dad's fastest Speedshear time of about 16 seconds for a single sheep.
He had all the blows, shots and steps, right down to a quick check of the tension on his handpiece and the stretching of the back as he put another one away, stopping to answer the questions of what's he going to be when he grows up, and what he wants for his birthday on June 1.
"A shearer," of course, and if he has a "bucket" and some combs and cutters in the gift bag he'll be more than happy.
Izzy's dad and champion shearer, Cam Ferguson from Waipawa.
As it happens, he's shorn five or six sheep, including a "small" ewe, and he's shorn in two competitions, winning a teddy-bear shear at the New Zealand Merino championships in Alexandra last October and in the Novice grade, the youngest by almost 10 years, in the King Country area of Aria on Waitangi Day.
Meanwhile, his dad is recovering from injuries received in a crash near Norsewood which put him in Palmerston North Hospital for three nights a fortnight ago.
Describing the injuries as "heavy bruising of the ribs", Ferguson has since shorn a small number, painfully he admits, but expects to be back shearing fulltime to get in "10 days or so" in King Country wool sheds before leaving for the UK in mid-June to begin preparations for the World championships.
There, he will help form an all-Hawke's Bay machine shearing part of New Zealand's team with Maraekakaho gun, Golden Shears and New Zealand champion and 2014 World champion Rowland Smith.
A video of the child-star shearing was posted on Facebook last week, and was going viral by Saturday morning.
With the "pre-breakfast run" out of the way, the family was off to sport, Izzy on the rugby field following in the footsteps of the just-retired All Blacks star Israel Dagg, from whom he takes his moniker.
