''I love shearing,'' Te Whata said.
''I love the art of it and it is beautiful to watch.
''It is an art and not as easy as it looks, but it is very rewarding.''
She said shearing was hard work.
''It is not for everybody but it is easy when you like it.''
She is a woolhandler, also enjoys shearing and is keen to do it full time.
''However, it can be physically demanding.
''Sometimes, I go home and can't open my hands.
''The sheep in Central Otago are humongous and you get wrecked.''
She said although she was a woolhandler or rousie, she often tried to help the shearers by grinding blades or setting up hand-pieces.
Keefe said she had worked in the meat works previously, and knew nothing about the shearing industry.
''I fell in love with it, the shearing and the lifestyle,'' Keefe said.
''It is very rewarding.''
She said the job required long hours, often leaving home at 5am to get to the woolshed by 7am.
''However, it is very rewarding when you get to shear.''
She would practise yoga after work to relax her muscles.
''Shearing all day was the equivalent of running two marathons.''
Howden, whose parents Buck Howden and Christine Cadwallader were also shearers, was a meat worker for a while and also has been shearing.
She said the male shearers were ''really supportive of us shearing''.
''It was also important to work as a team.''
Women shearing required a slightly different skill set.
Men had brute strength but women needed to learn how to trap a sheep, she said.
''Women have to place the sheep perfectly [to hold them in place].
''You have got to have your wits about you,'' she said.
