New Zealand’s only full-time female blade shearer sets sights high

Evalyn McGregor is New Zealand’s only full-time female blade shearer. Photo / ODT

Blade shearer Evalyn McGregor might only be 23 but she reckons she has found the job she will love for the rest of her life.

McGregor lives in Otautau and grew up in Glenorchy. As a youngster, she would join her mother and big sister, who were both rousies, in a blade-shearing gang.

“Mum always wanted to take a stand and become a blade shearer but she never got the chance.”

McGregor’s mother died of motor neuron disease six years ago when McGregor was just 17.

“Blade shearing is something I just knew I always wanted to do, and I had an even stronger desire to do it for Mum after she died.”

She is now the only full-time female blade shearer in the country.

“It would be good to see a few more girls getting in there and giving it a go.”

McGregor got a job as a rousie in the same gang as her family and every smoko break she would chip away and learn the art of blade shearing.

“I was that annoying person that would ask all the questions and ask to have a go. I got a lot of support and guidance from a couple of very good blade shearers. I eventually got given a stand when I got fast enough.

“Your hand becomes fit to closing shears all day every day, but at the beginning of the season you can have what we refer to as a ‘cold hand’ and you just have to ease into it for the first week or so, otherwise you can blow your hand, which is very painful.”

While she says the money for blade shearing is nothing like the pay a machine shearer would get, she enjoys the blade shearing a lot more.

Evalyn McGregor, New Zealand’s only full-time female blade shearer, hopes one day to represent New Zealand at the World Blade Shearing Championships. Photo / ODT

“There’s a big focus on quality and keeping the sheep happy. The shed is very peaceful too, without the noise of the machines.”

“If you can blade-shear 80 sheep or more in a day, you are better paid than working as a rousie.”

McGregor has now done two seasons blade shearing. Depending on the quality of the sheep’s wool, it takes her around three minutes to shear a sheep.

She can blade-shear about 100 sheep in a day and has her sights set on achieving 200.

She still works as a rousie through the summer months in a machine gang, as there is no blade shearing work, and she has recently returned from a stint in Western Australia working as a rousie alongside her brother, who is a machine shearer.

“I did four days on a handpiece over there and that was enough for me.”

While the skill has her travelling to many parts of New Zealand, the majority of the blade shearing work is based in the MacKenzie Country, where farmers like to leave an extra layer on their merinos for warmth through winter.

“The first thing we are told when people walk into the woolshed is how peaceful it is. The music choice is a bit different too. We prefer to listen to a little yellow radio we call ‘Walter’ which just plays the local radio station.”

McGregor would love to represent New Zealand at the World Blade Shearing Championships.

“That won’t be any time soon. Perhaps in a few years, when I have really got my skill up.”