Shearing: Taumarunui brothers to tackle Merino record

Floyde Neil (right) being kept up to the mark by Koen Black in his successful Merino lambs record in West Australia in November. Photo / Taesa Brown

Two brothers from Taumarunui are aiming to get their names into the World Sheep Shearing Record books together in West Australia next month.

The Neil brothers, Floyde, 30, and Levi, 28, plan to set a mark for the vacant nine-hour two-stand Merino ewes category.

The brothers are from Taumarunui but based in Boyup Brook, West Australia, and are the sons of Roger Neil, who helped set a four-stand strong wool lambs record for nine hours in 2007.

Floyde, who runs his own crew out of Boyup Brook, will also be chasing the solo record of 530, set by fellow Kiwi Stacey Te Huia near Dubbo, NSW, in February 2015.

The record bid will take place on April 22 at Rockliffe, near Kojonup – where Lou Brown, from Hawke’s Bay, set an eight-hour Merino ewes record in 2019.

It will be the 11th World Sheep Shearing Record in the World Sheep Shearing Record Society’s 2022-2023 year.

Taking place in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, all but one have been successful, including Floyde’s eight-hour crossbred lamb record of 527 on November 13, and the 605 lambs shorn by former record holder Aidan Copp (from Canterbury but also based in Australia) in regaining the record in January.

Floyde spoke of his hopes while back in New Zealand for the Golden Shears in Masterton two weeks ago, and the record bid was confirmed by records Society secretary Hugh McCarroll, of Tauranga.

South Island official Alistair Emslie will be the judging convener, joined by Australian judges Ralph Blue, Grant Borchardt, and Mark Buscumb.

Te Huia already held two strong wool ewes records set in New Zealand when he tackled the Merino record of 513 eight years ago, shearing 113 in the opening run of two hours and 103, 105, 104 and 105 in successive one-hour 45-minute runs through the rest of the day.

Floyde, whose record bids were first plotted over three years ago and put on hold during the pandemic, almost didn’t go ahead when the plans were revived last year.

He suffered a brain bleed in the woolshed about three months before the November record and for some time doubted he could go ahead.

Now he’s also plotting something even bigger – up to six flights from West Australia next summer to compete in the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit, a series of five shows starting at the New Zealand Merino Shears in Alexandra in October, plus the finals at the 2024 Golden Shears.

Meanwhile, numerous personal bests are being shorn in non-judged conditions in woolsheds around New Zealand, hinting at possible other bids for major records next summer.

On March 13, Simon Goss – who in January shore in a two-stand lambs record for eight hours – shore a nine-hour ewes tally of 804. The official nine-hour record for strong wool ewes is 731.

Last week, in-form competition shearer Toa Henderson shore a nine-hour tally of 911 lambs, the official record being 872.

Official record attempts are governed by rules including minimum wool weights and quality judging.