Nine participants from across rural SA are this week learning the tricks of the shearing trade, in the first training course to be held at Jamestown's Heiniger Shearer Training Centre.
The five-day course, which began on Monday, is being taught by Australian Wool Innovation shearer trainers Rick Chilcott, Lucindale, and Paul Oster, Naracoorte.
The centre was constructed last year in time for the Jamestown Show in October, and show president Matt Scharkie was pleased that the inaugural course was under way in the state-of-the-art facility.
"One of our key goals when building the centre was to have the best training facility available in SA," Mr Scharkie said.
"With COVID-19, it's pretty exciting to still be able to get it happening, and being able to get kids out there learning, who are hopefully the next generation of the shearing industry."
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Mr Scharkie said it was "fantastic" to see a mix of boys and girls participating in the course, with most under 25 years old.
"The average shearing age is probably about 50 around the place so it's really good to get those young ones coming in," he said.
Mr Scharkie said more shearer training courses were on the agenda for the new centre.
"We're hoping to run two or three or these courses a year - we'll get the first one out of the way, and then see where we go from there," he said.
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