New Year Honours: Sir David Fagan - Shear delight for rural community

Shearing legend Sir David Fagan. Photo / Alan Gibson

Sir David Fagan, KNZM

• Knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to shearing

Shearing legend David Fagan has been clocking up titles since ages ago.

But now, the Te Kuiti father-of-two has a different kind of title to add to his name - Sir.

His accomplishments include 642 open championships, five individual world championships, seven world team championships and he was the first shearer to shear 810 lambs and 702 ewes in a nine hour working day under World Record rules.

He's represented New Zealand more than 120 times in various teams.

It's an exhausting list of achievements, and his latest title is a humbling experience, Sir David says.

"It's pretty amazing really, it's not something that you expect or strive for. I feel very humbled to get it and apart from on a personal level, I think it's quite exciting for rural New Zealand and our sport of shearing and the rural industry we've got and it's nice for me and my immediate family, of course."

It's not his first official recognition though, he was first made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1999, before becoming an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Sir David retired from competitive shearing in April, ranked No1 in New Zealand, but it hasn't slowed him down. He is chairman of Shearing Sports New Zealand, an ambassador for Lister Shearing Equipment in the United Kingdom and is helping organise the Golden Shears World Championships in Southland in 2017.

"I'll always be around doing something and being involved some way."

As for picking his biggest accomplishment, Sir David says winning 16 New Zealand open titles and 16 Golden Shears - 12 of them in a row - was pretty special.

Although shearing is one of the most gruelling jobs, he loves it.

"It is incredibly hard, it's probably the most physically demanding job you can get but hard work never killed anyone, there's a lot worse things happening out there in the world. It teaches you good discipline at working hard."