New Career as a Sheep Shearer?

Saturday June 17 we left Curio Bay and drove towards Te Anau. On the way there we stopped in Invercargill (NZ's southern-most city... closest to Antartica besides S. America) I went to a museum named "Shearing South" where we learned about the history of New Zealand shearing and were given an understanding of how important it is to the economy and the people.

The 9 hour record for shearing sheep is 856 sheep... that's 80+ per hour!

Next stop, a farm with 3000 sheep and two dogs (herder and hunter). The "herder" silently directed the sheep with strategy and patience whereas the "hunter" moved them by biting and barking and jumping on top of them!

We each got a shot at shearing a sheep but after only a few second of it, I felt so guilty that I gave my turn up. The sheep were shivering from cold because it was 35 F outside and we were taking off all of their wool! Plus, it often made them bleed when the shearers caught their skin. I decided that I thought it was morally wrong but then I bought a pair of wool socks that evening! haha