N.Z. blade shearing technique catches on in South Africa

Press, 17 June 1983, Page 8

N.Z. blade shearing technique catches on in South Africa

The efficiency of New Zealand’s shearing industry in harvesting the wool from 100 million sheep (including lambs) each year is being passed on in South Africa. Two former Canterbury shearing instructors are running a series of shearing schools in South Africa which are modelled on the successful method used by the New Zealand Wool Board to train shearers. Allan Reid, who used to head a shearing gang of about 100 shearers based in Rangiora, recently returned home for a short break after a 15-month stint teaching blade shearers in South Africa. Most of the shearers Mr Reid instructed were black or Coloured, but about half the 28 courses he ran included at least three young white farmers who wanted to learn an improved shearing style. Mr Reid is the chief blade instructor for the South African Wool Board and will shortly begin another term of two years in South Africa. The board’s field officer is Mr lan Rutherford, formerly the chief shearing instructor in the South Island for the New Zealand board.

Eighty per cent of the shearing in South Africa is done with the blades for a number of reasons, according to Mr Reid. Machine

shearing would be an unsatisfactory method of removing the wool from the heav-ily-pleated Merino sheep which dominate the flock, labour is plentiful and blade shearing requires less equipment than machines. Mr Reid has been concentrating on changing shearing style and positioning which enables the shearers to shear more sheep more comfortably and leads to better quality of the shorn wool.

Before the training scheme was started, daily tallies of 30 to 40 Merino sheep for a blade shearer were common and many were a lot less, but after being through training courses some shearers had doubled their tallies.

Reducing the number of position changes while shearing each sheep resulted in quicker shearing and more money in the shearer’s pocket from higher tallies.

Blade training starts with learning the correct method of preparing a pair of shears and how to maintain an efficient cutting edge. The initial shearing courses last eight days and are sometimes followed by two or three advanced courses lasting four days. Certificates are issued to shearers who reach a cer-

tain standard, bronze seals are awarded to those who can set up a pair of shears properly and can shear to the correct style, and shearers who can teach others are awarded a silver seal. The gold award is made to shearers who are capable of running a training school. Mr Reid said younger shearers, between 18 and 25, were the best pupils to teach because older shearers had usually fallen into bad shearing habits. Until recently few young people had been entering the shearing industry because working in the mines had offered better money. In 1981, according to a survey conducted by a stock service firm which employs

3000 shearers, the average age of their shearers was 58. Young people were now taking up shearing in South Africa because they could make a good living using a better shearing style, said Mr Reid. Shearers work a 12-hour day and many facilities are primitive by New Zealand standards. Often all shearers have to catch from a single pen which could hold up to 300 sheep and then return the shorn sheep to the same pen, which could be situated a long distance from the shearing board. If the catching pen has to be cut out before being refilled shearers were often waiting for the slowest shearer in the shed to complete his final sheep, which was always the most difficult to shear, said Mr Reid. All these factors contributed to waste time and reduced tallies.

Mr Reid uses his diplomatic skills, gained during his time as head of a shearing gang, to convince South African farmers to change the layout of their sheds and provide individual catching pens and generally help improve conditions. Mr Reid said South African farmers were very fussy with their wool presentation, which was the best in the world. After shearing, the wool was

handled very carefully and one farmer who had eight shearers working, employed 15 shedhands.

By installing a raised shearing board, farmers could reduce the number of shedhands and still present their wool in excellent order, Mr Reid tells farmers.

The job requires Mr Reid to travel all over South Africa by car, and distances of 500 km between venues are common. Mr Reid has a black assistant, Elliott Naysata, a talented shearer, who accompanies Mr Reid on his travels and helps at the courses.