Before he appeared in Harden the weekend of the Harden Show to participate in the speed shear competition, Darin Forde was a world record holder for shearing 720 ewes in nine hours for a new world record at Wairaki Station in 1997.
Even before that, he grew up in rural New Zealand on a farm, shearing sheep and found he had a bit of a knack for it. Although he is still considered one of the top men in the game, he has since entered his 50’s and is not as nimble and quick as he once was, admitting this himself.
That doesn’t stop him from coming out and taking part in local shows and pushing past the limits of his age, securing a top spot in Harden Show’s speed shear, unfortunately for him, he fell short of the win.
The Times spoke to Darin right before his attempt at the $10,000 prize. He said, “I’ve been around for a long time. It’s been 40 odd years, started when I was 17 years old and now I’m 58. I’ve pretty much been everywhere in the world shearing. Australia, New Zealand in particular. I’ve been into the contracting business and pretty much done everything. Now it’s just me and my wife cruising around, taking it a little bit easier, but still shearing.
“Years ago, I did shear world records in 1997, I set a world record in New Zealand 720 ewes in a period of nine hours.
“I’ve done other previous records, like teamwork records and stuff like that. Back in New Zealand, and Australia, I’ve done a lot of social competition, not so much the speed shear here. Won probably 70-80 shows over the years.
“I’ve made the New Zealand team. Competed against Australia numerous times, probably 12 times over my career. nowadays I don’t do the shows. I just do live speed shear if it’s local when I’m working in the area.”
Mr Forde said that he saw the post about the Harden Show speed shear as he has been based in Wagga at the time doing various work in town.
“You see $10,000 for first prize and think it would be silly not to try and have a go.”
He said that the huge top prize attracted a lot of the best shearers from around Australia and New Zealand.
“I’m normally the oldest one in the gang when I’m shearing. To be fair, I’m still pretty fit, and I still like to not muck around too much in the sheds and it’s very rarely I get beaten in the shed unless it’s a superstar shearing.
“I can shear up to 500 last year. Not every day though, it can range, it depends on what kind of breed of sheep you’re shearing. It can be from 200 up to 500 and it depends on whether it’s lambs or adults.
Mr Forde said he was looking for the top prize, but accepted that not everybody can win it and that it wasn’t his day.
Jack Murray
