Shearing: World record three-stand eight-hour strong wool ewe bid near Dannevirke

Eketahuna shearer Hemi Braddick, seen here in action in January last year, will tackle the world three-stand, eight-hour strong wool ewes record on Friday, along with Ray Kinsman and Flynn Harvey. Photo / SSNZ

Three shearers working throughout the Tararua District of Southern Hawke’s Bay and Northern Wairarapa are in the latter stages of preparation for their bid for a world record this week.

Eketāhuna shearer Hemi Braddick will be joined by Dannevirke-based Ray Kinsman, from Fairlie, and Flynn Harvey, from Kaitāia, in challenging the world three-stand, eight-hour strong wool ewe record on Friday, at Pohuetai Station, 516 Otope Rd, Dannevirke.

Working for Dannevirke contractors Sutton Shearing, the trio is targeting 1611, shorn by Luke Mullins (554), Eru Weeds (539) and James Mack (518) at Waitara Station, Te Pohue, on January 17, 2017 - 13 months after the previous record of 1347 was set, also in Hawke’s Bay.

Braddick spoke of his hopes of one day taking part in a record attempt after finally winning an open final for the first time at Gisborne in 2022.

Of the three in Friday’s attempt, Braddick has been the most successful competition shearer, competing regularly and loyally in the open class and reaching numerous finals in the North and South islands over 10 years, before that breakthrough win at Gisborne in October 2022.

Kinsman had two wins in the junior grade in the South Island in 2011 and Harvey won the national full wool final at the Northern Southland Community Shears near Lumsden in 2018.

The trio are in good hands, with the record being managed by boss Rod Sutton, a Shearing Sports New Zealand master shearer who has held four world nine-hour strong wool records, including the glamour nine-hour solo ewe and lamb records.

He started in December 1997 with 713 in a three-stand record of 1933 lambs, he is still a holder of the two-stand nine-hour lamb record of 1637 set in December 1999, during which he sheared 823.

A year later Sutton sheared a solo lamb record of 839, and in January 2007 he sheared a ewe record of 721.

According to World Sheep Shearing Records Society rules, Friday’s record attempt will comprise four two-hour runs, starting at 7am and ending at 5pm, with half-hour breaks for morning and afternoon tea and a one-hour break for lunch.

Sheep must average at least 3kg of wool each, as determined in a sample shear of 10 sheep and wool weigh on Thursday.

These, along with Friday’s bid, will be overseen by members of a five-man panel of records society referees, convened by Dave Brooker, of South Australia.

The record bid comes at the start of a busy three days in shearing sports, with the Northern Southland Community Shears’ National Full Wool Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Lumsden also on Friday and A and P show competitions at Kaikohe, Wairoa, Takaka and Winton on Saturday.

These include the Southland Shears’ National Crossbred Lambs Shearing and Woolhandling Championships on Saturday, and the Royal New Zealand Horowhenua Show’s Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Levin on Sunday.

The world three-stand, eight-hour strong wool ewe record will take place on Friday, at Pohuetai Station, 516 Otope Road, Dannevirke.

Details of the two previous three-stand eight-hour records

January 22, 2015, at Big Hills Station, Kereru, Hawke’s Bay

A record of 1347 was shorn by Shelford Wilcox (129, 122, 121, 116 – 488), Kalin Chrystal (127, 126, 118, 115 – 486), and Errol Chrystal (102, 102, 83, 86 - 373.

Combined run-by-run tallies: 358, 350, 322, 317.

January 17, 2017, at Waitara Station, Te Pohue, Hawke’s Bay.

A record of 1611 was shorn by Luke Mullins (138, 139, 139, 138 – 554), Eru Weeds (134, 133, 136, 136 – 539) and James Mack (126, 134, 132, 126 – 518).

Combined run-by-run tallies: 398, 406, 407, 400.

February 19, 1981, Southland

A women’s record of 1120 was shorn by Maureen Hyatt (410), Margaret McAuley (409) and Glenda Betts (301) in Southland on February 19, 1981, under rules that existed before the formation of the World Sheep Shearing Records Society and revision of the rules in 1983.

New Zealand’s busy world record schedule

Friday’s record attempt is the seventh of eight that have been scheduled in New Zealand for the 2023-2024 summer, with all but one successful so far.

In December Megan Whitehead broke the women’s solo eight and nine-hour strong wool lamb records in Southland. Whitehead and her cousin Hannah McColl also broke the two-stand strong wool lamb record at the same time.

Then, on January 7, Wairarapa shearer Amy Silcock set a solo women’s ewes record near Pahiatua, only to see it broken three days later in a King Country woolshed by Gisborne’s Catherine Mullooly.

Next up was a new men’s five-stand eight-hour strong wool lamb record, shorn in Southland on January 14.

On February 9, Sacha Bond, originally from the Tararua District, will, in Southland, attempt to add the women’s solo nine-hour ewe record to the nine-hour lamb record she set before Christmas.