Dedicating a life to great shearing

Despite retiring two years ago, Peter Mirrielees doubts he will give up shearing completely. He has shorn in Southland and Central Otago for 43 years and worked for major contractors Peter Lyon, Darin Forde and Spain & Smith.

Work days went from 7am to 5pm, with one hour lunches and two 30-minute breaks.

‘‘I couldn’t tell you one farmer I didn’t like,’’ Mirrielees, 70, said.

‘‘The farmers are very family orientated in the south . . . they love their sport.’’

For the past seven years Mirrielees has travelled throughout the province shearing on lifestyle blocks. Their stock numbers are not high, with some grazing one to 15 sheep.

‘‘I’ve been going to Bluff to shear one sheep for $30 and a chilly bin of fish heads,’’ Mirrielees quipped.

Mirrielees and wife Julie shifted from Dargaville to Invercargill in the late 1960s, with subsequent moves to Lumsden and Ohai. They have lived in Ohai for the past 15 years.

The couple have enjoyed living in the south but are now packing up for a move to Gisborne in April. Julie’s family lives there.

The Mirrieless family have all worked in the shearing industry. Julie is a leading shed hand with a level four qualification, daughter Alice works in Southland wool sheds and son Kim is a wool presser.

Other sons are Robert, a shearer in Dubbo, New South Wales, and Peter jnr, who sheared before concentrating on playing rugby. He played for Otago and the Highlanders.

Peter snr’s best shearing tallies for a day are 300 (lambs) and 250 (ewes).

He reckoned romneys were the best sitting sheep for shearing, while coopworth-texel cross sheep were difficult to hold.

Mirrielees gained early knowledge on shearing when attending two shearing schools, run by Godfrey Bowen, in the mid 1960s.

Bowen set a world record for shearing 456 ewes at Opiki, Central Districts, in nine hours in 1953.

‘‘On my 70th birthday, I shore four sheep at Mt Linton [Station],’’ Mirrielees said.

‘‘Shearing’s been my passion for all my life. If I had my time all over again, I’d still be a shearer.’’

His yearly buy up of gear included a handpiece, 60 cutters, 20 combs, four sets of shearing pants and a pair of moccasins.

Asked what attributes a shearer needed. Mirrielees replied:

‘‘You’ve got to love it, be dedicated, get on with people and have the right attitude.’’

Mirrielees’ 17-year-old huntaway bitch, Tui, will not be making the move to Gisborne. She was bought for $50 off a farmer in Mataura and has had 11 sets of pups.

In his younger years, Mirrielees played rugby on the North Island’s East Coast. He was a hooker.

‘‘I made the East Coast reserve bench.’’