Leadership in Shearing

Te Ao Hou, August 1957, Page 12

Leadership in Shearing The greatest shearer of Mr Tutaki's youth was Raihania who with the narrow cut machine used in that period could shear as many as 343 sheep a day. He died, unbeaten, about 1924 at the age of fifty-six. Machine shearing was introduced in 1898, the first machine having only ten teeth. At about 1910 the modern wide-cut machine of 13 teeth first appeared—the Wolesley sheep shearing machine. After a few years, Bob Tutaki himself became the ringer of his gang. The ringer (the man who rings the bell at starting and stopping time) was also the boss of the gang. I asked Mr Tutaki whether it was difficult to maintain one's authority in such a gang. The important thing, said Mr Tutaki, is the struggle against the sheep. There should be a proper balance between the wishes of the man and the sheep. If the sheep is given too much freedom, it never gets shorn. On the other hand, if it gets irritated that can be just as bad. A champion shearer ‘sees the day out rather than fighting his opponent. He sits and smiles while other men are cursing and swearing.’ Respect for the leader is therefore mainly based on his shearing tallies. Bob Tutaki admits that ringers will go to great lengths to avoid being beaten. A familiar one is to ring the bell just after picking up a sheep. Nobody else can pick up a sheep after that, which helps to build up the tally. At one time, Bob himself fell into the bad habit of shearing carelessly to improve his speed. In one shed, the owner noticed it. At lunch time, Bob found that while the other sheep were all let out, his were kept in their pen. The next day the same

thing happened. Bob knew what this meant: the third time he would have got the sack. He improved his style at once, and to his surprise, he found this did not lower his tallies. He never tried rough shearing again.