By CHERIE TAYLOR in Rotorua
It may only be an unofficial record but Rod Sutton will take it.
The 38-year-old Central North Island shearer has unofficially beaten the official world record for shearing lambs - a grand total of 1103 in nine hours on a Ruatahuna Maori Trust farm.
The official
world record is held by Rerewhakaaitu's Justin Bell who shore 851 lambs late last year in the same time frame, beating Mr Sutton's previous 2000 official world record of 839 lambs.
New Zealand shearer Wayne Ingram has held the unofficial shed record for the past six weeks for clipping 946 lambs.
However, it's Mr Sutton's effort which has people talking now.
The single man was shearing one lamb every 20 to 25 seconds during his nine-hour record-breaking effort.
"You have to look after yourself because it's quite physical shearing. I really didn't think I would do it," he said. It wasn't an easy thing to accomplish considering the heat the region has been experiencing lately.
"It was pretty hot but there wasn't time to stop. I had a guy following me around with a fan to keep me cool," he said.
He isn't planning to turn his shed record into an official one.
"I'm getting too old to break records. It takes a lot out of you," he said.
During an official record, judges scrutinise the day. Other rules apply, including shearers having to catch their own lambs.
Mr Sutton has been shearing since he was 16, his interest sparked while growing up on a farm at Porangahau, in the Hawke's Bay, where his father Lawrence was a shepherd.
"I'd go into the shed and watch the guys shearing and thought it was a good lifestyle," he said.
Most days he shears an average of 400 ewes or 600 lambs.
Today Mr Sutton is employed by Jeff Dowset and works throughout the Rotorua and Hawke's Bay regions.
Mr Dowset, was among those impressed by the new shed record.
"This was a mammoth effort by Rod. It was no easy feat. Nobody expected anything like this. He was aiming to just beat Justin's record."
