Five King Country shearers are setting out to set the five stand nine-hour world record for strong wool lambs today.
The team working to set the record. Photo: Supplied to RNZ
The team of Delwyn Jones, Llion Jones, Jack fagan, Reuben Alabaster and Kelly Brill began the effort at Te Pa Station, Ruapehu at 5am this morning.
Aged between 18 and 35 the men all work for Te Kuiti-based Fagan Shearing and will work to shear as many strong wool lambs as possible.
Company owners Neil and Stacy Fagan are co-ordinating the record.
Fagan said about 4000 lambs will be on the farm to be shorn.
"This is one of the only gang attempts that has not been done before so there will be a world record established at the end of the day, so they want to set a good high mark for others to have a go at it in the future."
Fagan said the crew first started talking about the idea of the attempt a year ago.
"A lot of preparation has gone into the day, the crew has worked with personal trainers in the build up for today to ensure they are in the best physical shape possible, one of them has lost 15kg."
"The guys just love their job, they love shearing so they wanted to do something to test their skills and ability."
The effort will be overseen by six judges at the event and an international judge watching online.
"Due to Covid during the past two years, competitive shearing has been constrained, along with everything else. That includes the recent cancellation of the Golden Shears so it is really heartening to see a big event come together like this," Neil Fagan said.