Shearing World Record Broken by Megan Whitehead

Gore shearer Megan Whitehead, 24, recently took on a nine-hour-long challenge officiated by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society, shearing 661 strong wool lambs in the time period to beat the previous solo women’s record from 13 years ago by 13 sheep, New Zealand’s Farmer’s Weekly reports in a story published online by Australia’s Farm Weekly.

New Zealand Farmers Weekly newspaper reported that the result culminated after seven months of training, which included removing bread, caffeine and sugar from her diet, to ensure she would be in peak performance. A sacrifice that paid off.

The world record attempt kicked off at 5am and was broken into five runs. Whitehead’s first run saw her shear 153 specially-bred Snowline lambs, second run 132, third run 126, fourth run 125 and fifth run 125.

The previous world record was held by another New Zealander, Emily Welch of Waikaretu, who shore a total of 648 lambs in 2007.

Original article by Hannah Powe and Neal Wallace, Farmers Weekly, Farm Weekly, January 15, 2021.

Photo by Natwick via Farmers Weekly.