Young shearers excel on sporting stage

A GROUP of first year Australian Agricultural College Corporation students from the Longreach campus have excelled in their shearing studies, breaking records and astounding those in the industry.

Under the guidance of college instructors, including sports shears competitor and professional shearer Mick Nancarrow, the 11 students have managed to clip 1,900 sheep in a fortnight, breaking the 2002 record of 1,500 sheep shorn by second year pupils.

Spurred on by their success in the sheds, the students decided to head to the Bollon Sports Shears last weekend – a 936-kilometre journey – to test their skills in the sporting arena.

Their successes continued with all 11 college entrants ranking between one and 13 in the novice heats.
Leanne Cook claimed first place in the final, just edging out fellow classmates Bob Elliott, Andrew Ryder and Jake Lacey who picked up second, third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
Among the crowd of aspiring shearers was 17-year-old Geordie Mitchell of Warwick, who modestly believes he did "alright" at Bollon, ranking tenth in the novice heats after shearing for only three weeks.

"My family’s property has sheep, so I have shorn a sheep before, but I suppose I didn’t know how to do it properly before this course."

Geordie admits it is not all hard work and no play for the ag college students in the shed.

"We are just having fun with some good mates.
"We all call him [instructor Mick Nancarrow] ‘Mum’ because he always bosses us around the place.
"He works us hard, but always brings a smile to our faces."

Fellow student 16-year-old Tim Nottage from South Australia has been shearing for the past four weeks, and is already developing the confidence and self-assurance needed to work the sheds.

"I started out shearing one sheep every half-hour, now I can shear six every half-hour.
"As you get better at it, you become more determined to see your numbers increase."

The role of college instructor is new to rugged shearer Mick Nancarrow of Inverell, and his passion for the wool industry is being passed on.

"Their biggest accomplishment, what really put a smile on my dial, was their success at Bollon.

"All of the kids worked really hard in the first couple of weeks of their training. To see them rewarded by making the final 16 in the novice shearers was excellent."