30-year-old New Zealander Rowland Smith is preparing to take on the ‘Eight Hour Ewe World Shearing Record’ next month in the UK.
Rowland's record attempt will take place at Trefranck Farm, St Clether in Cornwall, on Monday 24th July.
Whilst world record attempts are never guaranteed to be successful, a track record like Rowland’s certainly stands him in good stead.
Set in February this year, the current world record for the ‘Eight Hour Ewe World Shearing Record’ is held by Leon Samuels from South Island New Zealand when he sheared 605 ewes in eight hours.
To beat this, Rowland will have to shear each sheep in less than 47 seconds.
Highlighting just how difficult this task is, prior to Leon’s attempt, this record had not been beaten since 2010.
'Vital to sheep industry'
Rowland has even got the backing from British Wool.
Speaking in advance, Alan Marshall, British Wool’s south west board member, commented: “Shearing is vital to the sheep industry and events like this really help to promote shearing as a sport, and showcase British wool to a wider audience.”
As the agricultural industry faces uncertain times ahead, the camaraderie between British producers in events such as this is seen as uplifting.
They are seen as an excellent platform to raise the profile of shearing as a vital industry skill, but also the high quality of British wool to a global audience.
Shearing in the DNA
Shearing is in Rowland’s DNA. He was taught to shear by his father and two older brothers at the age of 12 and began shearing competitively aged 13.
He left school at 16 to embark on a career in agriculture on his home farm, simply fitting in shearing whenever the opportunity arose.
Rowland progressed very quickly through the competitive shearing grades, winning the junior title at the Golden Shears when he was only 17.
The following year, he came fourth in the intermediate competition, and the year after won the senior title.
Impressive collection of titles
For a number of years he travelled the world, following the shearing season to various countries including Finland, Estonia and the USA.
Today he is firmly settled in Hawkes Bay, on the North Island of New Zealand, with his wife and two – soon to be three – children.
He works for a local contractor, Heath Kingston, and also on the family’s own 70 acre property when time allows.
Throughout his competitive shearing career, Rowland has accumulated an impressive collection of titles.
His four major achievements to date include; four times Golden Shears Open Shearing winner, five times New Zealand Shearing Championships Open Shearing winner, former World Machine Shearing Champion, former two-stand eight hour world shearing record holder (alongside his brother Doug), Master Shearer, and most recently, the 2017 New Zealand Rural Sportsperson of the Year.
