Matt Smith, of New Zealand, has broken the nine-hour strongwool ewe shearing world record, shearing 731 ewes in the required time-frame. The record was previously held by fellow New Zealander Rodney Sutton who sheared 721 ewes in nine hours back in 2007.

Beating the record required shearing a ewe approximately every 38 seconds.

Matt, who farms with his wife on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, is the first to attempt such a feat in the Northern Hemisphere.

Matt took the record by shearing 10 more ewes than the 2007 winner between 5am and 5pm on Tuesday 26 July.

With an international audience tuning in to watch the event, AgriCamera.co.uk were asked to provide a live stream for the whole event so that people all over the world could keep track on the event.

Watch the afters from the live stream here.

Matt’s entire working life has been involved in the sheep shearing industry and he already has his name in the record books. In 2010, at the age of 25 he set a world record for the Eight Hour Strong Wool Record in New Zealand shearing 578 sheep and beating the record by 18.

Lamb record

Irish shearer Ivan Scott will be bidding to set a new nine hour lamb shearing record in the same competition on Friday.

Ivan currently holds the world eight-hour lamb shearing record from 2012 when he shore 744 lambs. More recently, Scott set a new Irish record when he shore more than 800 sheep in nine hours in Mayo in June. The previous Irish ewe record was 483, set by George Graham from Gorey, Co Wexford, in 1997.

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Ivan Scott crowned Irish open shearing champion for ninth time