A 24-year-old has set a new women’s world record for shearing the most number of lambs in nine hours.
Megan Whitehead sheared 661 lambs in near 30-degree heat at the Grant Brothers’ Gore woolshed, New Zealand, on Thursday January 14, smashing the previous record of 648 set by Emily Welch in Waikato in 2007.
The lambs weighed between 34-36kg each and Ms Whitehead averaged under 50 seconds per lamb, the New Zealand Herald (NZH) reported.
Talking to Stuff, a New Zealand news media website, Jills Angus Burney, who set the original record of 541 lambs in January 1989, said: “She [Megan] is fantastic to watch, she has just got a demeanour that is really still, resilient and focused, and she is so clinical and efficient."
She added Ms Whitehead had only been shearing for five years and is in the calibre of the top young male shearers in the industry.
According to the NZH, Ms Whitehead, daughter of former shearers Quentin Whitehead and Tina McColl, is already a joint holder of one world record, the four-stand eight-hours women’s record of 2066 lambs set last year.
Stages of the record breaking attempt:
You can watch Ms Whitehead in action by clicking here