A County Donegal man has set a new lamb shearing world record.
Ivan Scott from Kilmacrennan shore 744 lambs in eight hours in New Zealand on Monday, beating the previous world record by just two sheep.
Brought up on a farm he had a little shearing experience, but that all changed when he travelled to the other side of the world.
“I used to do a bit of shearing in the summer, then I came out to New Zealand when I was 20 for three months and it turned into 10 years,” he said.
Now based near Taupo on New Zealand’s north island, Ivan broke the record in front of 100 supporters.
To beat the previous record, he had to shear on average 185.5 lambs every two hours.
In the first two-hours Ivan shore 187 lambs, then tallied 189, 187 and 182 over the following sessions.
And the tally could have been even higher as five lambs were rejected by the adjudicator for cuts over the course of the day.
But how fit does someone have to be achieve this feat?
“Physically I’ve been training for quite a few months leading up to it to get my fitness right,” Ivan told the BBC.
“It was more the mental pressure which is just as hard.
“You have to be dedicated and treat it like a sport. It’s a bit like climbing a mountain, you’ve just got to put in an effort.”
While Ivan is already back at work, next up on the shearing front is the Golden Shears World Championship which will be held in New Zealand later this year.
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