Disraeli Downs - known to all as Desi - is in his 50th year of shearing.
In that time he's shorn more than two million animals around the world including the United States, a country not readily known as a shearing centre.
His globe-spanning shearing career started in Hunterville where he was born with the surname Down, a name he said had caused problems in the past.
"My grandfather had a lot of his mail misdelivered because there were so many people with the surname Down. He had a very large family. So he added an S to the end and everyone's called me Downs since then."
His father died when Desi was 13, so he left school to get more involved with the running of the family dairy farm, and at 17 he learned how to shear a sheep.
"Back then the money wasn't that good - maybe £2 per 100 sheep - and even when we changed to dollars and cents it wasn't much better.
"But by 1970 it was getting up around $10, so you'd do 100 a day and it would work out well."
The Rata man estimates that between 1963 and 1980 he sheared more than 700,000 sheep. His boss, Shane Ratima, says the quiet man's running total is now more than 2.25 million animals over his 50-year career. His running total includes quite a few shorn overseas.
After working in Central Otago for a few years, Desi began an annual pilgrimage to Australia to shear during the Kiwi off-season. He's still working the Australian sheep as, like so many other areas of work, the money is good.
"Over there I'll work for maybe three months, but the money's so much better that to earn the same amount here would take me six months.
"My youngest son used to shear too, but he ended up getting into mining in Queensland because the money was even better again."
Later, Desi began travelling to the United States to shear Californian merinos with Mexican shearing gangs.
"Those guys really worked hard. I found it pretty tricky to keep up with them. They worked so hard it's like they were scared of being shot!"
His wife, Manu, travels overseas with him, her work as a Jehovah's Witness keeping her occupied while her husband is shearing. Their oldest son, Koperere, has followed in his father's footsteps and is a full-time shearer working in Turakina and Waverley.
Mr Ratima says Desi has always been one of the best.
Mr Ratima started shearing in Australia but when he returned home, Desi was in the same shed.
"I started 14, maybe 15 years ago, and he was there. We ended up in the same gang, so we worked together for about three years, and then I took over in 2004 and he's still with me.
"He's one of a dying breed. He's the most loyal employee anyone could ever ask for, never talks down to anyone, never complains about anything, and he's a mate as well.
"He'd do anything for you.
"We had a young fella start a little while back, starting right at the bottom of the ladder, and Desi taught him and even gave him a new handpiece.
"Those things are worth $800 each, and he gave one to his brother too, it's just so typical of the way he is," Mr Ratima said.
He says Desi holds a number of unofficial records but doesn't skite about them.
One day Desi, Mr Ratima and Scott Bailey, sheared 1674 lambs and were the talk of the town for months afterwards. But the days of such marathon efforts are probably over.
"He used to work every day for 12 months of the year, probably shearing 60,000 or 70,000 sheep a year, but now he's beginning to enjoy having time off. "I appreciate that, and I'm happy to give it to him. He deserves it."
Yesterday Mr Ratima took the whole shearing gang to the Hurricanes vs Crusaders match in Wellington and presented a very surprised Desi with a photo collage commemorating his 50th anniversary in the industry. Desi is now 67 and has the sore back so many shearers develop from bending over the animals.
Now he has a special sling - which the rest of the gang call "the bungy" - to help ease the strain on his back. He takes it with him to every run he works and doesn't consider it a hindrance.
He thinks he has quite a few more runs left in him.