Mark McGeown from Drumnacarra, Ravensdale, Co Louth, has set a new Irish eight-hour shearing record.

McGeown set a high bar for those following him at Co Louth Agricultural Show, shearing a total of 514 ewes in eight hours. He shore 133, 134, 124 and 123 ewes in four two-hour shearing periods.

The feat is even more impressive when you consider the testing conditions in getting hoggets prepared and maintained in dry conditions during last week’s heavy rainfall.

The record follows the nine-hour world lamb shearing record set by Ivan Scott last August when 867 lambs were shorn. All proceeds raised as part of McGeown’s record were added to the Louth show’s annual fundraising and donated to the Dundalk cystic fibrosis branch.