One week a year she goes into the shearing shed to class the wool off the hoggets at Long Gully Station near Tarras and wins a big prize.
That is the Merit Award for mid-micron wool classing, presented at the Wool Classers Association annual meeting in Timaru.
Blanchard is employed full-time as a shepherd at Long Gully but qualified as a wool classer after leaving school.
“I couldn’t decide what I liked best but finally the whistle and the dogs won out.
“My heart is in the hills and I just love working with animals.”
The station runs 6000 halfbred and 1200 Merino ewes and her work with them is all outdoors.
She’s too busy with her core work of mustering and animal health at shearing time to be in the shearing shed.
But the station shears 5000 halfbred hoggets – wethers and replacement ewe hoggets – in spring after carrying them through winter and three years ago the classer who usually did the station work was in doubt because of duties in other sheds so Blanchard was thrown in at the deep end. It worked out so well it’s become an annual event.
“I enjoy the challenge and the work and the only thing is I do fear missing out on the outdoors and my four dogs miss the work when I’m classing.”
The five-stand shearing shed puts through 1000 hoggets a day so it’s full-on for five days.
“This season we didn’t have contracts for the wool so I sorted it to what I thought was best with the lengths and crimps and the right amount of wool and the wool sold well so that was really good.”
In the other years the station has had wool contracts so she sorted the fleeces to the contract terms, with specific lengths.
“You get to know what the clip is capable of doing within the first half hour. There’s no time to muck around. You’ve got about 30 seconds to make up your mind with the fleece and I have a routine and you keep an eye on what’s coming as well.”
The award was for the clip last spring.
“I knew it was a well-presented clip and I was pretty excited about winning, really chuffed. It was a good achievement.”
Mid-micron wool is very valuable these day but she doesn’t feel the pressure.
“I’m hardest on myself. I’m fastidious and like to do well.”
Though the award is hers she’s quick to say she works with a good gang, praising the Mouse O’Neill shearing team and the eight shed hands feeding the wool to the swivel table she works at.
PGG Wrightson Central Otago wool rep Graeme Bell calls in and is a big help as well. He put the clip forward for the competition.
“I messaged the team afterwards and told them it was a team effort.”
The classing starts with one sheep being shorn by one of the shearers and she shows the shed-hands what to take-off as they put the fleece up.
“We do the demo and then they’re into it. They’ve been fantastic, preparing the fleece perfectly.”
After initially qualifying in classing Blanchard worked in farming for a time but then left and worked in a bank for four years, followed by other office work. She decided about 10 years ago to go back farming, initially in the Omarama area. She’s been working for Denis and Sharlene Nyhon at long Gully for the last three and a half years.
As much as she loves the shepherding and working the dogs she’s not discounting taking her D stencil to a full-time career in classing.
“It’s something to think about as I get older.”
