Shear delight:
A new documentary series on M ori TV looks at the changing face of the New Zealand shearing industry, as Kerry Harvey finds.
Documentary looks at life in the shearing industry.
Overseas visitors are flocking to Dannevirke – looking to get down and dirty in the shearing shed.
The tourists come from all over Europe to learn from – and work for – Paewai-Mullins Shearing, a fourth-generation family business which is at the centre of M ori TV’s new documentary series Shear Bro.
“We’ve got the best teachers here and that’s why we get such a big influx of foreign shearers,” says Tuma Mullins (above), a world-class trainer who has worked in shearing sheds around the world.
“There’s sheep everywhere and you can end up in some pretty weird places. I’ve been to the UK half a dozen times – shearing in England, Wales and a bit in Scotland.
“I’ve done a bit of shearing in Norway and a bit of instructing there as well. I’ve spent probably six years in Aussie.”
Tuma, and his siblings Aria and Punga, honed their skills in the shearing shed under the watchful eye of parents Koro and Mavis Mullins. The couple have now passed the mantle to daughter Aria, who is doing what it takes to keep the business viable in a country where the sheep population has plummeted from 70 million in 1982 to 27 million last year.
Paewai-Mullins Shearing handles around 1.3 million sheep each year, providing jobs and accommodation for more than 100 shearers during the December-March ‘main shear’.
Working shoulder to shoulder with the highly skilled Kiwis are young, aspiring shearers from around the world who come here to learn from the masters.
The training programme is just one of the changes necessary if companies like theirs are to remain viable.
“When I was learning how to shear we could work for 10 and a half months,” Tuma says. “I think we had about 50 core workers when Mum and Dad were running the shearing and it was great. But now I think we’re down to maybe 15 or 20 people and we only work five and a half months of the year.”