Shear 4 A Cause: Matt Hunt ready for the physical, mental challenge of 24 hour shearing

Southland shearer Matt Hunt, of Invercargill, is set for charity event Shear 4 A Cause in West Otago this weekend. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Southland shearer Matt Hunt has ditched the booze and the pies and hit the gym as he prepares to shear sheep for 24 hours in West Otago this weekend. He talks to Shawn McAvinue from Southern Rural Life, about getting out of a dark place to be set for Shear 4 A Cause at Wohelo Station.

Southland shearer Matt Hunt is ready to realise a dream.

He will attempt to shear sheep for 24 hours over a 32-hour period at Wohelo Station in West Otago from 6 am on Saturday.

“This is redemption.”

He trained hard to be part of a similar event, Shear4Blair, on the same station at the same time last year but an injury meant he had to withdraw.

Shearers could work all year across New Zealand and Australia but it was important to take time off to give your body time to recover, he said.

“I missed most of last summer with injuries and that was just by pushing myself all year.”

He damaged the tendons in his wrist from shearing tough sheep in the South in the autumn of 2021.

In hindsight, he should have rested more.

“I was pretty ignorant and pig-headed and kept going back too early and causing more damage.”

More recovery time was taken this season to avoid his body taking another hammering, he said.

He was confident his body was up to the task this weekend but time would tell if he was mentally tough enough.

Southland shearer Matt Hunt’s fitness training for shear-a-thon event Shear 4 A Cause has included deerstalking after work at Argyle Station. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

“I want to see how far my mind will go until it hits that brick wall - I can be pretty resilient, I think.”

He would find motivation by raising money for his chosen charity, Kidzway Early Learning Centre, in Tapanui.

He had no children at the centre but had friends and family who did and wanted to raise money for a local cause.

Listen to Jamie Mackay interview NZ Rural Support Trust ambassador Matt Chisholm about hosting Shear 4 A Cause on The Country below:

“This challenge is a way to prove to myself I have the ticker to shear for 24 hours and help give back to my community.”

His training included stopping drinking alcohol and eating unhealthy food, such as pies, about five months ago.

At smoko, he ate soaked oats, while his colleagues feasted on pastry goods.

Watching his diet had him feeling better and had given him more energy.

Southland shearer Matt Hunt stands outside the shearer’s quarters at Argyle Station. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

“Getting off the booze has been a big thing. I hit it pretty hard last year when I got injured - I abused it a bit and it put me in a dark spot.”

Shearers had a reputation for being tough but the industry had lost many good people to suicide.

Alcohol could be a “punisher”, he said.

He was enjoying spending more time doing activities such as deer hunting and fishing, rather than spending that time drinking.

Southern Rural Life caught up with him at Argyle Station in Waikaia, where he was working for contractors Darin Forde and Max Winders, as part of a team shearing about 10,000 ewes.

He was staying in shearer’s quarters on the station.

The shearing crew gave station owner Jeremy Gunton some crayfish and pāua for allowing them to hunt deer on the station after finishing work for the day.

Sheep wait to be shorn at Argyle Station in Waikaia. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

“It’s bloody good. We normally bag a few when we come here.”

Shearing was in his blood.

His father, Phil, was a shearer for 12 years, working mostly around Central Otago, and he taught him how to shear.

He had been shearing for about four years.

Out of high school, he trained to be a plumber to get a trade under his belt.

The 27-year-old believes his body had about another decade of shearing left in it.

“Before I’m 40, I’ll stop.”

Freshly shorn sheep at Argyle Station. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Shearing was hard on family life because you were away from home a lot.

Part of his training for the event this weekend was high-intensity training at the gym for 45 minutes, before or after a day’s work.

Shearers who had completed the 24-hour feat had told him high-intensity training was better for building fitness rather than going for a two-hour run.

“Shearing is quite stop-start.”

A dog waits for work at Argyle Station. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

To get up for early morning gym sessions, the alarm on his cellphone was the Country Calendar theme song.

His partner, Danae Bradle,y got sick of waking to the tune so now he used his vibrating watch to get him out of bed.

He felt like he was prepared for this weekend and wanted to make the bad mental space he was in after pulling out of the event last year a distant memory.

“It will be good to get in and get it done.”

Shear 4 A Cause

Matt Hunt (27)

Born: Waikaka, Southland

Lives: Invercargill

Shearing mentors: Willie Hewitson, Peter McIntosh, Phillip Hunt and Dwayne Black

International shearing: Somerset in England and Naracoorte in South Australia in 2019

The shearing crew gave station owner Jeremy Gunton some crayfish and pua for allowing them to hunt deer on the station after finishing work for the day.