Strabane farmer to make Irish sheep shearing record attempt

Tom Perry, a professional sheep shearer and farmer from Strabane, will attempt to break the ‘Irish nine-hour solo lamb shearing record’ on the farm of Norma Hoy, Rickamore Brae, Templepatrick, County Antrim (BT39 0JQ), on Saturday 29 July.

Fermanagh native Stanley Allingham currently holds the record, which was set in 2019 in County Cavan.

Stanley shore a total of 708 lambs in nine hours, breaking the previous record of 669 that was set in 2017 by Mark McGeown of County Louth.

In order to beat the record set by Stanley, Tom must shear a lamb every 45 seconds across the gruelling nine hours.

Tom has been in training since last August to ensure that he is in peak physical condition to enable him to endure the demands of the task.

The day will begin at 5am and finish at 5pm, consisting of five ‘runs’.

The first run will be two hours in length, while the remaining runs will last one hour and 45 minutes each.

For Tom to even consider this aspirational achievement, a lot of planning and organising has taken place, most of which would not have been possible without the generous donations of sponsors – the main sponsors being Heiniger, Ulster Wool and Jackson’s of Ballynure.

All proceeds will be donated to Rural Support. Rural Support provides a listening and signposting service for farmers and farming families across Northern Ireland through its helpline. It can also provide face-to-face support, help with sourcing information and advice about a wide range of issues

Next Saturday’s record attempt will be live streamed with links shared on Facebook (Tom Perry - Irish Lamb Shearing Record Attempt) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/irish.shearing.record/) on the day. You can also find details of raffle prizes and a link to buy tickets on the social media pages.

The general public is very welcome to attend on the day to support Tom in his record attempt.