Day in the life of a shearer: team thrives with positivity and team morale

That was the reality of a shearing crew in the Mid North, where a shed full of males were working together to get the job of shearing 6000 sheep done.

A day in the life of a shearer is a lot like any other profession, be it a senior surgeon or a carpenter in construction, according to shearing team leader Trevor Bertrum, Jamestown.

Mr Bertrum has been shearing for 43 years and coordinates a run for a team of shearers throughout the Mid North.

The team arrive at their shed at about seven in the morning, when some shearers will opt to stretch and get into the right frame of mind.

"Our runs start at 7.30am for two hours and then we break for half an hour to have smoke-o," he said.

"We kick off again at 10am for another stint of two hours before we break for an hours lunch at midday.

"You will find we all eat really quickly so we can have a lie down to rest for a while.

"After lunch we shear again from one through to three where we will have another half hour smoke-o and shear for the last run until 5.30."

He said most shearers will have about 100 combs and 150 cutters in their collection, which they wash each night.

"You have to change your comb each hour and oil the shearing plant to lubricate all the moving parts," he said.

"Some shearers will wash their combs on the breaks but most will take them home and clean and grind and buff them in the evening so they're ready for the next day.

"Shearers have to buy their own handpieces and combs and cutters so there is an initial outlay involved and then an expense as frequently as the tools wear.

"We wear flat shoes - moccasins - which prevents your ankle from rolling as a lot of the work is holding the sheep with your knees and standing in many positions.

"They also provide a grip on the board so it's non-slip, so it adds safety to the job."

Mr Bertrum said he started shearing at 18, once he left school, and in the off period tried his hand at shed building.

"I shear for my family - I have put two daughters through university and set them up," he said.

"The rate of shearing varies but at the moment it is about $1.50 for crutching, $8 per ram and $4 for everything else.

"These days, young blokes look after themselves more, they look after their bodies and really make a career out of it."

He said there were thousands of people in the shearing industry and the shearing schools were a great stepping stone

Shearer Ben Rolph, Jamestown, said he knew on his first day as a roustabout, when he was 17, that he wanted to be a shearer.

"I learnt shearing by jumping on during the day and finishing off the last bit of a run for a shearer," he said.

"Then eventually I learnt how to shear a full one and then was doing one on the hour and it went from there.

"The shearer-woolhandling training will sometimes buy some gear for you if you do a course through them - which is good because it can be quite expensive.

"I have done one course last year and have another lined up in May."

He said his first handpiece was a hand-me-down Heiniger but since upgrading, it made things easier by running smoothing and cutting better.

"Merinos have a lot more loose skin, wrinkle and denser wool," he said.

"Crossbreds are a lot rounder and comb a lot better - but they both have their pros and cons as crossbreds are stronger and take a bit to hold on to but they are easier to get the wool off of.

"My preference is always a good combed-in Merino as they are a bit easier to hang on to.

"It's never glamourous shearing rams but you've just got to get the wool off however you can."

He said once he set up his handpiece, he clicked the counter and grabbed a sheep from the catching pen.

"I drag the sheep out, start off with the belly, then the first leg, step over for the neck, do the long blow and down the last side and let it out the shoot," he said.

"Then you repeat that for two hours - it does get physically exhausting some days.

"But I stretch and try to keep pretty active on weekends to look after myself - I do some foam rolling too."

Mr Rolph said he enjoyed shearing as he could mentally and physically challenge himself.

"My best tally is 215," he said.

"The best part of the job is keeping physically active and working with good people.

"I love getting involved in shearing competitions too - it's awesome.

"There are no bad things with the job - you've got to love it, to do it."

He said he was lucky to only really have about a month and a half off throughout the year which he could align with the shearing school.

"I am pretty lucky with this run," he said.

"The other few weeks off when I am not at shearing school, I team up with other shearers in the area - so I don't really have much of an off-peak."

Mr Rolph said there was no boss and no one was more important than the other in the shearing shed.

"We all work as a team - from the roustabouts, to the cockie (farmer) - we all need each other for the shearing to run smoothly," he said.

"Back in the day it was typically the wool classer who ran things - it's probably still like that in big teams but I don't work in big teams anymore."