AgInEd | February 8, 2021

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AginED

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FOR E FUTURIA G R R S! U E N E R P

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Volume 42 I February 8th, 2021 I email: agined@globalHQ.co.nz I www.farmersweekly.co.nz

SHEARING CHAMPS

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY NEW ZEALAND CAN BE SO

WIN D Y

?

New Zealanders shouldn’t be so surprised how often it’s windy here. After all, we’re basically a few mountainous islands stuck partially in the Roaring Forties. But what does that really mean?

Recently Megan Whitehead set a new solo woman’s nine-hour record of shearing 661 lambs in Gore, topping the previous record set 13 years ago (by Emily Welch) by 13 lambs. Shearing is not something that perhaps would be seen as a common occupation for women historically. This is not to say that there have not been a number of women who have been very impressive in their shearing acumen, including Ata Mond who was the first woman to shear 400 lambs in a single day in 1978. Maureen Hyatt bettered this in 1982 with a tally of 569, she also took out the solo ewe women’s nine-hour record in 1982 shearing 522 ewes. Joy McCracken held both the solo nine-hour ewe and lamb blade shearing records in the late 70’s shearing 137 ewes in 1977 and 225 lambs in 1979. A lot of our women shearers have come from families with a rich history in their field. Including the current holders of the four-stand nine-hour record for strongwool ewe lambs set in 2020, with a collective total of 2066 shorn. Megan Whitehead finished 608, Sarah Higgins 528, Natalya Rangiawha 507, and Amy Silcock 423. Megan’s father Quentin and mother Tina McColl were outstanding shearers in their own right – shearing 700 and 500 lambs respectively on the same day. Natalya’s grandfather and uncle were shearing champions. Amy worked in Scotland for two years with Una Cameron – who in 2010 became the first women to make the top 30 in the open grade at Golden shears. Currently there are world records which are held by women but no official open women’s title though with the shearing worlds being pushed back to 2023 there is still time to get this initiated. Which brings us to the question; how can we make jobs like shearing more accessible to greater numbers of people and make them aware of these vocations? Particularly for those who do not have a family history steeped with experience in the respective vocations.

Megan Whitehead on her way to setting a new solo woman’s nine-hour record of shearing 661 lambs in Gore this week. Photo Natwick.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE BEST WAY TO SHOWCASE THE AMAZ ING DIVERSITY OF JOBS WITH IN OUR FOOD AND FIBRE SECTORS TO PEOPLE LOOK ING FOR CARE ER OPTIONS?

Send us your ideas to agined@globalhq.co.nz

IT’S A MAN'S WORLD (OR IS IT?) Can you think of other vocations that have been traditionally “male” jobs? Do you know of or are you a woman working in these jobs/occupations? We would love to hear about them/you or see what they/ you do for a living? Share with us what makes these jobs so great. Send us in your stories/photos/videos to agined@globalhq.co.nz

STRETCH YOURSELF: This table shows a small selection of prime steer prices at the Canterbury Park prime cattle sale. 1 Go the AgriHQ market snapshot page 2 What was the North Island steer price last week? 3 How is this tracking compared to year-ago levels?

The Roaring Forties is the belt of wind at latitude 40 (south to latitude 50) over the Southern Ocean that sailors centuries ago named. Unlike the northern hemisphere, which has a lot of land at this latitude, the Southern Hemisphere in the 40s is mostly ocean with just tips of land – like Tasmania, New Zealand’s South Island and the very southern portion of South America the only areas that briefly jut out into this area. With a lack of land to slow things down the wind whips up across the sea, fuelled by storms these strong winds swirl around Antarctica very quickly and can impact NZ from time to time. These westerly winds blast over the South Island and the lower portion of the North Island off and on across the year. In fact, the Roaring Forties stops at about Whanganui. North of that you’re outside the Roaring Forties. So when you’re just a few islands in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by ocean and more than half of your country juts out south directly into the Roaring Forties belt of strong westerlies, it’s no real surprise that New Zealand keeps getting shots of wind when we think it should be calmer…even in the middle of summer!

1 Work out the missing $/kg values in the last column. To do this, divide the $/head price by the weight. 2 Identify the lines that achieved the highest and lowest $/kg value 3 By looking at the information provided on the table, why do you think the line that achieved the highest value did so? 4 What are some beneficial characteristics of that breed?

DON’T FORGET TO SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! ‘Be Safe, Be Seen’ and the whole Gurt and Pops collection could be yours! We want to see howyou stay safe on the farm. Send us in a photo of you being safe on the farm these holidays, along with your answers to two of the questions below to get yourself in the draw.

BE O IN T ! N WI

Why do you never drink out of bottles that are in the workshop? If we walked into this paddock with cattle what could go wrong? Why should you never go somewhere on the farm without talking to an adult first? Before riding your motorbike, what should you dress yourself in and why?

Send your entries to: agined@globalhq.co.nz (we will draw the winner on February 28th)


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