Sacha Bond has become the first woman to shear 700 sheep in a day. Photo: Supplied
King Country shearer Sacha Bond has taken out a world record by becoming the first woman to shear more than 700 sheep in a nine-hour day.
Bond smashed the current record of 661 with a total of 720 at Centre Hill in Southland on Tuesday.
Shearing a lamb every 45 seconds, she also became the first woman to shear 700 sheep in a day.
Starting at 5am, Bond was always six or seven sheep per hour ahead of the pace of the 661 shorn by Southland shear Megan Whitehead in January 2021 - breezing into the record books with about 45 minutes to go.
There was more in the tank for 30-year-old mum who on 9 February 2024 will tackle the ewes record of 452 in a bid to become the first female to hold solo record for nine hours on both lambs and ewes.
Shearing Sports New Zealand spokesperson Doug Laing said Bond made it look easy.
"At the end of the day she was going a bit quicker than the start of the day but a lot of hard work went into preparing for the record, a lot of training to make sure she was physically fit.
"It was a quiet couple of years with Covid so now we're seeing a lot of attempts and records being broken."
Laing said a few years ago, 700 in a day would not have even been a thought so everyone who watched the record yesterday was blown away.