Green light for woman’s shearing record bid

The green light has been given for shearer Kerri-Jo Te Huia’s women’s record attempt in a Wairarapa woolshed tomorrow.

It follows the pre-record wool-weigh shearing of 10 ewes by brother and fellow record holder Stacey Te Huia, producing an average of 3.698kg per sheep, comfortably over the minimum requirement of 3kg a sheep set by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.

Tomorrow she plans to establish a women’s nine-hours ewe-shearing record at Otapawa Station (306 Haunui Rd, Tiraumea), east of Eketahuna.

It starts at 5am and ends at 5pm, with hour long breaks for breakfast and lunch and half-hour breaks for morning and afternoon smoko.

There is currently no claim to the record, although a tally of 522 was shorn in a South Island woolshed 25 years ago, before rules were changed.

Four judges, headed by Welsh official Arwyn Jones, will oversee the shearing which opens with a two-hour run to breakfast, by which time, according to fellow shearers, Te Huia would be hoping to have a tally of 90-100 behind her.

Conditions in the 10-stand woolshed are expected to be hot and muggy throughout.

ENDS