World-class sheep-shearing leaves no time for hanky panky
The Eastern Cape’s Mayenseke Shweni is officially the best and fastest sheep-shearer in the world, denuding six sheep perfectly in 18 minutes and seven seconds
No one can pull the wool over the eyes of Mayenseke Shweni‚ officially the best and fastest sheep-shearer in the world. And it’s not the first time the master craftsman‚ who hails from the small town of Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape‚ has walked away with the title of Blade Shearing World Champion. He took top prize at the international competition in Ireland in 2014 and defended his title two weeks ago in New Zealand‚ where he competed against 31 other countries to shear six sheep perfectly in 18 minutes and seven seconds — that’s about three minutes for each sheep of about 70kg. Shweni‚ 44‚ who has been shearing sheep since 1992‚ believes this is his calling. "Before‚ I did farm labour work‚ but since I discovered the joy of shearing I have never looked back‚" he said. The competition has both blade and machine shearing events. A South African has won every blade shearing world title since 1996 and is recognised as a sport in SA. "I started entering competitions around 2007‚ help...
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