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Canadians learn from New Zealand shearing expert

Tuesday, 28 December 2004
Tectra’s Bruce Walker got an insight into the technical shearing differences between Canada and New Zealand when he recently taught an advanced training course in Alberta.

The course was held at a Hutterite colony in Southern Alberta. Hutterite colonies are self sufficient communes run by Canadians of German heritage. They are generally beef and cattle farms with minimal sheep.

The first difference Bruce encountered was that the wool shed did not have a shearing board and the job was usually done on a dirt floor or uneven boards. The shearers also used flexi tubes rather than solid ones. Both of these differences contributed to the Canadian shearers having problems with when holding sheep in position and shearing to the pattern.

Another major difference was the size of the sheep. Canadian sheep are generally much heavier than ours, with an average weight of 70-120 kilograms. The predominant breed in Alberta is the Rambouillet, a large-framed and robust sheep which is known for its well-developed flocking instinct and adaptability to a wide variety of range conditions. Because of the weight of these sheep, Canadian shearers shear much slower than New Zealanders, a top shearer doing 90-120 sheep per day.


Bruce gets on to the job at hand

Given these differences, the training course was a great opportunity for the shearers to exchange ideas, and the Canadian shearers really appreciated learning from Bruce's experience and expert advice.