Weather hits shearing

WARWICK SMITH/Manawatu Standard

THE FASTEST: Shearer Guy Tahatu, from Feilding-based Rob Barry's shearing team. He is on the No1 stand.

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It's meant the season has been a stop-start affair, while the sale of wool only covers the costs of shearing.

It was good to get the wool off his ewes and lambs, Pohangina valley farmer John Wycherley said.

Rob Barry, of Feilding's shearing team, has been three days at the four-stand shearing shed at the northern end of the valley.

It had been a bit of stop/start affair, with wet weather making sheep unshearable, Mr Wycherley said.

"They shore the lambs last Tuesday and I put the ewes in the shed Tuesday night, but they were too wet to shear on Wednesday. It has been hard to get sheep dry," he said.

The price for contract shearing was around $3.40 a sheep.

"If the wool was worth $6 a kilogram you wouldn't mind. But it is about half that.

"It is good to get the sheep out of the wool. But the sale of the wool really only covers the cost of shearing," Mr Wycherley said.

He was helping pen up and move sheep and was general dogsbody helper, he said.

By lunchtime, the team had shorn 456 mixed-age ewes and expected to finish at afternoon smoko, enabling them to get home early. They had 30 rams to shear at the end of the run – something to look forward to.

Guy Tahatu, from Otane in Hawke's Bay, was on the No1 stand – the fastest shearer. At the other end, on the No4 stand, was Fraser Quinlivan.

Three wool handlers, Rosemary Papanui, Betty Kereama and Shona Papanui, cleared the fleeces and sorted out the offcuts. Duncan Foord was the presser.

It was all about raising money for him for the coming year. The team sang his praises and reckoned he was a good presser.

He is going back to a second year studying ecology at Victoria University, in Wellington.

Mr Foord was still pressing pieces and bellies, even though the shearers and wool handlers had knocked off for lunch.

Among his responsibilities was putting the kettle on before the end of the run, to make sure there was tea in time for the break.

There was a "zone" in the shed, with all the team reliant on each other to get the work done.

- © Fairfax NZ News