Joel Barton Sets New UK 9 Hour Lamb Shearing Record

On Saturday 4th August after a few hours sleep I blundered out of bed at 2.30 in the morning. Why? To witness Joel Barton's attempt at a new UK 9 Hour Lamb Shearing Record. He was starting at 5.00am and I wanted to be there.

When I arrived at Walter House Farm, Woodchurch near Ashford, Kent, there was an atmosphere of quiet tension. No one was rushing, no one was talking much, everyone was intensely focused on the final preparations.

Preparing the lambs is a highly skilled job in itself. Shearers had worked through the night dagging the lambs to the strict requirements of the rules. Only an area over the tail the size of a man's fist is allowed to be shorn in advance. This means the lambs have full belly wool and, being Romney lambs which carry a lot of wool, wool between the teats and up the legs. In competition shearing, the sheep are sheared in front of the teats so the shearers can go flat out. Record attempts are supposed to reflect the shearer's normal day at work so he still has to contend with all the fiddly bits.

Three judges were there from the British Isles Shearing Competitions Association (BISCA): Charles Fuggle from East Sussex, Arwyn Jones form Wales and George Graham from Ireland. The judges ensure the record attempt complies with the strict rules. They monitor the quality of the shearing and any injuries to sheep. Quality and animal welfare are not sacrificed to speed and numbers. If the shearing is not up to standard or sheep are being injured then the judges will stop the attempt.

The day was structured with military precision. At 5.00am Joel Barton dragged the first lamb out of the pen. He sheared for 2 hours, losing less than 10 seconds between lambs. Every 15 minutes he paused to change the cutter and gulp a drink but these pit stops lasted maybe only 20 seconds. After 2 hours shearing, Joel had done 119 lambs. Then there was a hour break for breakfast.

The rest of the runs lasted 1 hour 45 minutes each, with breaks in between. This pattern reflects a normal shearing day. In the second run, Joel sheared 110 lambs, then 106, 102 and finally 100. When the attempt started, everyone stayed quiet, afraid of distracting Joel. I switched the flash off on my camera in case it disturbed him. Joel had his music playing and he was in the zone. 

As the day wore on and more people arrived to watch the audience took on the job of shouting encouragement. There was a countdown to the 500th lamb, with lambs being shorn in around 54 seconds each it was hard to keep track. Joel sheared his 500th lamb at 4.22pm.

He needed to shear 522 to break the record, with less than 40 minutes to go and the record not yet broken we shouted Joel down the last side of each lamb. I can't begin to imagine the pain he must have been in by then. At 4.45pm, with 15 minutes left Joel broke the record. Joel finished at 5.00pm. The new record: 537 lambs shorn in 9 hours.

I took my spinning wheel but I had to give up spinning for the last hour - it was way too exciting!

I estimate Joel sheared about 430kg of wool in the 9 hours. He filled a woolsack an hour:

It only took Joel 3 hours to shear all this wool

Joel has a Just Giving Page, money raised will go to the British Heart Foundation.  

I am gradually adding photos from the day to Flickr, I have several hundred to sort through, so it may take a while. You can see the pictures here.

UK 9 Hour Lamb Shearing Record

In less than 12 hours Joel Barton from East Sussex will attempt to set a new UK 9 hour lamb shearing record. Currently the record is held by Roy Collier who sheared 521 lambs in 9 hours on 27 August 2011 in Knockrobin, Co Wexford, Ireland. 

Tomorrow's attempt is taking place at Woodchurch, near Ashford, Kent. Joel Barton has been a professional shearer for seven years. He first started shearing when he was a student at Plumpton College. Joel has been training for the event for the last year.

Joel will be shearing Romney lambs. He will start at 5am and finish at 5pm. Joel will shear for two hours, then take a break. After that he will shear in 1hour 45 minute runs with breaks in between ( a run is a period of time when a shearer shears continuously without stopping, during each run Joel will be looking to lose less than 10 seconds between lambs). This work pattern reflects a normal working day for a shearer. A normal working day for Joel would be eight hours actual shearing broken down into four runs. 

 Supporters have traveled from as far away as Scotland and even New Zealand to assist Joel. Behind the scenes, a team of around 15 people will be making sure everything runs smoothly. The back up team have the vital job of ensuring a constant supply of lambs and taking care of the equipment. The record attempt will be closely monitored by officials from the British Isles Shearing Competitions Association.

Tomorrow I will be reporting on Joel's progress via Twitter @Romneyteg. 

In the meantime here is video coverage of  Roy Collier setting the current record.

Maybe I Should Eat More Spinach

You want our wool?

Meet the lovely ladies I've been shearing today. They are Suffolk Mules, which means Dad was a Suffolk and Mum was a North of England Mule. They are about a year old so this is their first time being shorn. A very confusing  experience I should imagine.

Yesterday was the first day of the shearing season for me. I have set myself the goal of shearing at Plumpton College Open Day on 12 May. In order to shear as part of the public demonstration I need to prove I'm good enough. The last couple of days have been training in preparation for Open Day. 

Due to other commitments I could only do part of each day. But I sheared three sheep yesterday and three today. Six in two days isn't much, a professional shearer would expect to do between 200 and 400 a day. Only another 197 to go! Still, I'm just glad to ease myself back into to what is an extremely demanding activity. 

Where did my fleece go?

Today I was told I have made the grade and will be permitted to shear on Open Day. This means I will get to wear the special red shearing vest printed up with 'Plumpton College Shearing Team'. It feels like I've reached a milestone. But there's still a long way to go.

 

I am stronger now than when I first started trying to learn to shear but I still need to acquire a lot more strength and stamina. I guess I'm going to be on a diet of spinach for the next three months!

Golden Shears Sheep Shearing Competition

Right now the world's most prestigious sheep shearing competition is under way in New Zealand.  This is The Golden Shears World Championship at Masterton.  The competition is being streamed live over the internet. I highly recommend you have a peak over the next few hours. The event finishes Saturday night New Zealand time. Don't miss it! If you've never watched a sheep shearing competition before it is a real adrenalin rush, the commentators do a fantastic job, they make you feel like you're watching a horse race and they are very funny.

I have just seen the Senior Final. I was delighted to see a lady shearer in the final, Teatakura Crawford, she sheared 12 sheep in 15 minutes 45 seconds. To be in the Senior Final she must have beaten a lot of very good male shearers. It is inspiring to see a lady shearing at this level. 

You can find the full programme of classes here. To watch the competition live go to the Golden Shears website. Look out for David Fagan, a legend in the world of sheep shearing.

Have fun watching and let me know what you think!

A Couple More Videos For You

I thought I would show you a couple more of Phil's videos.  This first video shows you what happens to a fleece when it has just been shorn.  If you are a handspinner and you buy raw fleece, the fleece will normally come rolled in this way.    

The second video gives a close up view of the shearing equipment, Phil explains how the handpiece works.

I hope you enjoy this insight into the world of sheep shearing!  If you haven't seen the first two videos please click here.

Sheep Shearing Videos

Although I can't tell you too much here about the sheep shearing course I did, I can show you some videos of the instructor.  After all, you can't print a video!  The instructor was Phil Hart, a Gold Seal shearer, Wool Board Shearing Instructor and Competition Judge.  He stars in seven videos made by FarmingAds about sheep shearing.  I just hope I manage to embed the videos OK, I'm not that good with all this technical stuff!

In this video Phil demonstrates how to dag and shear a sheep.  See this lively Suffolk Mule do a handstand!

This is my favourite film.  In this film Phil takes a sheep he has already shorn and 'shears' it with a wax crayon so that you can see the shearing pattern without all the wool in the way:

Apparently on one course Phil did this with a red crayon.  Later, once the sheep had been turned out in the field, the farm had a visit from the RSPCA, someone had reported the shearers had slashed a sheep to bits!  Now Phil never does this exercise with a red crayon.

If you feel inspired to try sheep shearing I strongly suggest you go on a proper course, sheep shearing is not something you can learn from scratch by watching a YouTube video.

Why sheep shearers should be allowed to enter the UK

This week I heard the news that sheep shearers will have difficulty coming into the UK as the number of unskilled workers entering the country is being capped.  My blood boiled at the idea.  First, I object to sheep shearers being classed as unskilled, I challenge anyone who thinks shearing sheep is unskilled work to give it a go, they would soon change their mind.  Secondly, the sheep industry needs the shearers from overseas, we do not have enough home-grown sheep shearers to shear the British flock.  There are approximately  36 million sheep in the UK.  About 500 overseas shearers enter the UK each year.  They shear 20-25% of the UK flock.  Sheep shearers are different from other migrant workers, they are not coming to stay, they are only here for the season, then they move on.  The sheep shearing season in this country is from May to the end of July.  These are not permanent immigrants, they are passing visitors.

In addition the argument that we should train the unemployed to take on these jobs done by workers from overseas does not stand up when it comes to shearing.  Shearing is seasonal, anyone training as a shearer will have three months work per year and be unemployed for the other nine months of the year unless they become a migrant worker themselves and follow the shearing seasons around the world.  Not an attractive option for anyone with a family. Then there is the question of being up for the job, to shear one sheep then collapse in a heap completely exhausted you need to be physically able and fairly strong.  Shearers are paid by the sheep at the rate of around £1 per animal.  To make a living you must be able to shear between 100-400 sheep per day.  It takes a person as fit and flexible as an athlete and with the right mindset to shear 400 sheep a day, day after day.  

Furthermore there is the question of what happens to the sheep in the worse case scenario where the overseas shearers are not allowed into the country and we do not have enough shearers to go round.  In this case, sheep will be waiting well into August or even later to be shorn.  As the summer progresses and the fly population increases sheep will get flystrike, a terrible occurrence where flies lay their eggs in the fleece, the eggs hatch into maggots and the maggots eat the sheep alive.  I have seen plenty of sheep with a hole in them you could fit your fist in, they suffer terribly and without urgent treatment they die a slow and painful death.  Another thing which can happen if a sheep is not shorn is heat stroke, extra woolly breeds, such as the Poll Dorset, are particularly prone to this.  Sheep can and do die from heat stroke.  Then there is the problem of getting cast.  If a sheep is not shorn the new fleece will still grow under the old fleece, this forms a heavy mat of wool.  If the sheep gets onto its back it can be unable to right itself because of the weight of the fleece, a sheep stuck on its back, if not rescued will die very slowly.  I’ve heard of cast sheep which had their eyes picked out by crows and in one case a badger ripped open the udder of a trapped sheep to drink the milk, while she was still alive.  Not shearing sheep is not an option.  Shearing them in August will put them at risk and cause suffering.  

This issue of letting the overseas shearers into the country crops up year after year.  It is time this nonsense ended.  We should welcome and respect our highly skilled, hard working friends from overseas.