She's shear class!
The rise and rise of top-class female shearers is a growing phenomenon in NZ – especially during recent times.
Sadly, there was no such luck at the Golden Shears held earlier this month in Masterton.
At 53, Fagan’s the oldest of the competitors and is still right on the pace, aside from the hiccup at Masterton. For some time, people have been asking him when he might give up and it seems to him the right time is now.
“I want to go out while I can still win. I want to be remembered for how good I was, not how bad I was getting,” he told Rural News. “I’ve been competing in the open at the Golden Shears since 1983 and got second to my brother (John) in the open grade in 1984, which was pretty special.
“I think we’re the only two brothers who’ve ever won the event and that was pretty good. I’ve won 640 open championships now worldwide; the one at Pahiatua the other week was 640, which is pretty good. I’ve competed all over the world – Australia, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales Norway, Switzerland, Italy, France and the US.”
Fagan says every country has different sheep, but you learn to adapt by looking at the sheep and deciding what comb to use. Of all the places he’s shorn sheep, Fagan rates his experience in the Dolomite Mountains – between northern Italy and Austria – as “pretty special with the scenery and all that”.
His last competitive event will be on April 11 at the NZ shearing championships at Te Kuiti.
“Te Kuiti is very special. It’s a rather more modern event, more of a competitors’ event with more prize money. But the Golden Shears is the one that has the history and mana and they go hand in hand. If you ask the young shearers which one they want they say it’s both or nothing. I have always said the Golden Shears is the Wimbledon of shearing and the New Zealand shears at Te Kuiti is the US Open.”
Today, Fagan mixes farming, competitive shearing and a consultancy role with the English shearing equipment company Lister.
“I haven’t shorn work-wise for about 10 years. I’ve just been competing and farming. I thoroughly enjoy the
job working for Lister – tinkering with the gear and making it better on the R&D side.
“Even though I’m giving up competitive shearing, I’ll still be involved in shearing competitions on the administrative side with Shearing Sports New Zealand.”
As he heads toward retirement, in the next few weeks, Fagan says it’s hard to pick out a highlight of his career. Probably it was winning the Golden Shears ten years in a row and then going on to win two more titles.
