A broken jaw playing country rugby league led farmer Ross Thompson to get serious about shearing sheep in the northern New South Wales town of Inverell.
It was the 1990s when some 10,000 shearers plied their trade and he hoped the competitive circuit would fill the void left by footy.
“I wasn’t interested in going to the city, and I was always told it’s the best money you can make in the bush with your hands. And that’s true,” Mr Thompson said.
“It’s been really good to me, I’ve been around the world a few times and met a lot of great mates.”
Mr Thompson went on to win a world championship in 2000, and not long after, the straight-talking bloke from the bush was flown around the world.
“I did some training there in Spain. It was only the year before that that village had seen someone shear a sheep that wasn’t tied up,” Mr Thompson said.
The problem today is there are just 2,000 shearers left, despite the government’s aim to have more than 7,000 on the job to keep the $3.5 billion export industry alive.
Now the challenge for Mr Thompson isn’t to compete but to teach.
As part of a New South Wales government initiative, the Regional Industry Education Partnership (REIP), experienced trainers work directly with year 9 and 10 students in the bush.
“We’ve got to teach people. We all whinge about the younger generation, but how many people actually do something to help that younger generation?” Mr Thompson asked.
His daughter Bella is now in year 12 and already picking up shearing work.
“I learned to shear at one of these courses actually. Dad was too stubborn to teach me at home,” Ms Thompson said.
Now she is winning awards and writing a fresh chapter in the roughly 200-year-old industry that’s been heavily male-dominated.
“A lot of the competitions, you’ll see a lot of the girls up there winning against the boys. The boys aren’t a big fan of it, but the girls I think they’re giving it a good crack,” Ms Thompson said.
Gun shearers and the first female world record
About 800 kilometres south at the historic Cavan Station near Yass, the annual shearing run is in full swing.
The day starts early for Jeanine Kimm, her fellow shearers, the shed cook and the wool classers who race to pick up freshly-shorn fleeces and keep the operation humming.
They need to be in position ready to start at 7:30am sharp when the bell rings for the first of four “runs” of exactly two hours each.
A view over the Cavan Station at Wee Jasper near Yass. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Shearers prepare their clippers for a morning of shearing. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Shearers wear a special moccasin made from suede and felt. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
The Merino wool will make its way from the shed to the world’s luxury fashion brands. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
In between are “smoko” breaks of 30 minutes and a one-hour lunch break.
“It’s just the challenge of it. You can make out of it whatever you want. It’s all about your attitude and when you turn up for the day, that’s what you get out of it,” Ms Kimm said.
“I suppose [you’re] partly your own boss.”
At the end of the day, each shearer’s work is tallied and here they’re paid $4.85 for each Merino ewe fleece.
Time management is crucial.
“Gun” shearers — defined as those who get through 200 or more sheep in a shift — can take home about a grand every day.
That requires wrestling an adult sheep weighing about 50 kilograms into position and shearing it in a little over two minutes.
“It is an industry that you have the potential to earn as much money as your male counterparts when you’re shearing, so it’s something that I think more women should get into,” Ms Kimm said.
Top shearers in speedy full flight describe entering a flow state where they block out everything but themselves and the sheep.
It helped Ms Kimm set the first world record from a female shearer when she got through 358 Merino ewes in eight hours.
She said she hoped other young women would be inspired to beat her mark.
“I’d like to think that they’d take up the challenge … I got a lot out of it personally through the journey. I’d love for other women to be able to take that on,” Ms Kimm said.
Top product in international market
The wool from the 20,000 Merino ewes at Cavan Station will end up overseas in China or Italy.
Australian Merino wool is marketed as the softest and finest in the world.
The best of it will be bought by the most exclusive fashion houses.
“Australian Merino wool is the top wool product around the globe, Merino notes a certain amount of quality around the Merino brand,” station manager Matthew Crozier said.
“In the textile world, it’s a very important product used by many of the top, top fashion labels.”
The problem is that since the 2019 drought, farmers have dreaded the annual quest to lock down shearers.
The nation that once “rode the sheep’s back” has been importing workers from overseas to get the job done.
The uncertainty impacts even the wealthiest landowners, like Rupert Murdoch, who owns Cavan Station and at 93 years old continues to buy up neighbouring farms.
“It’s extremely difficult and we’ve faced three or four years of real stress not knowing how we were going to be able to harvest our product and get it to market,” Mr Crozier said.
“It can be a major animal welfare issue if the sheep are not shorn on time, [as animals] are more susceptible to parasites and flystrike.”
That’s why farmers are excited by the new push to snaffle students by teaching shearing in schools as early as year 9 and 10.
First graduates already working
Back in the state’s north at the pioneer town of Inverell in a shearing shed just out of town, the next generation are learning the ropes.
They’re taught new tricks like the importance of stretching to keep hamstrings long and avoid their spine “looking like a half-opened pocketknife” after a day’s work.
Once taboo topics like mental health are being tackled by the new breed like 18-year-old Bella Thompson.
“It’s hard work both physically and mentally. You’ll find a lot of shearers, because they’re away from home so much and away from some of their mates, they feel quite isolated,” Ms Thompson said.
Her dad stresses to the students that while shearing is lucrative, it’s also seasonal, casual, and requires a high level of fitness.
“I encourage these guys to have a ten-year plan. Come in. Shear hard. You should have enough money to have a house paid off in ten years, even in these tough times,” Mr Thompson said.
As the novice shearers struggle to control their animals, they’re guided on how to keep the sheep happy and calm.
That means learning to position their feet correctly.
They’re shown some old-school bush magic as Ross Thompson demonstrates how a sheep will lie completely still if a boot is placed under its shoulder.
There are many tricks of the trade. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
On-site lessons provide hands-on experience. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Students say the lessons are tough. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Students learn how to best handle sheep. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Ross Thompson says students deserve a chance to succeed. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
“It’s a trick that’s been round. I just stole it off other guys. You just put your toe under that shoulder and that sheep will sit there quite content. Pull a bit of wool over their eyes, they’ll often go to sleep,” Mr Thompson said.
As the three-day training course wraps up, the experienced teachers reckon another two weeks of intensive training and the students will be shed ready.
This collaboration between industry, Skills NSW, and the NSW Education Department has been funded to train students at another three country schools later this year.
“By targeting students in year 9 and 10 it is preparing them to start thinking about what they want to do when they leave school and giving them those skills,” said Karly Brogan from Skills NSW.
Ross Thompson has a final word of warning for the farmers who might employ his budding shearers — treat staff right and they’re more likely to stay on the job.
“People need to be prepared to let young people have a bit of a go,” he said.
