Now he trains others, including seven women who recently learned to shear to raise funds for Farmstrong.
He says he got a real buzz out of teaching the novice shearers.
“Shearing’s easier said than done but they can all shear a sheep now. There’s been a lot of humour. They’re a great bunch of women, who will have you in stitches. Now when they go out they talk about sheep shearing, believe it or not.”
Watson-Paul employs up to 120 shearers at peak time and his crews work with a wide range of farmers each year. He constantly reminds his crews of the need to look after themselves to avoid injury and prolong their careers.
“Shearing’s a really physical job.
“Sometimes you’ll shear 30 or 40 days without a break and they are long days.
“But that’s when the guys make most of their money. It’s good money but it’s hard on the body. It’s also hard to get your head around that amount of work. You don’t stop unless it rains so to keep going you have to be very resilient.
“Shearing and sport are similar that way.
“The body can take a lot but it’s the mind that often lets you down. You ask any Iron Man competitor, they all say the only thing that gets them to the finish line is the mind. It’s the same when our guys shear world records – like Dave Fagan once said, it’s all about the top two inches.”
His advice to anyone new to the game is take it a step at a time, eat well and do stretches.
“When you’re young you often think you’re bulletproof and that your body can take on all sorts of things but if you don’t stay in shape and prepare properly shearing soon catches up with you.
“It takes a lot of effort to do this job well seven days a week. You’ve got to loosen yourself up to prepare for the day because it is pretty tough.
“Warm up properly. Do your stretches before work and after you finish as well. That’s how you look after your body so you can keep working and earning. Most of our younger guys are getting that now.
“There’s also a lot of mental pressure to meet targets. It all adds up. I tell the new guys ‘don’t try and break the world record, just shear within your capabilities’. Young guys often take off like roaring stags. They don’t picture the whole ride. I tell them to take it easy, don’t try to shear all of them on the first day. Ease into it.”
Eating well is absolutely essential for such a physically intensive job.
“If you’re shearing hundreds of sheep a day, going down to the service station for a pie and a doughnut is not going to get you through.
“That’s why I feed all my crews, because if I didn’t some of the young guys who come in wouldn’t last very long before the wheels come off.
“At least if I’m feeding them I know they have some decent fuel in them to get their shear on,” Watson-Paul says.
His crews are well placed to help farmers having tough times.
“Their wool isn’t worth much at the moment. We can soon tell how their season’s going when they get talking.”
He’s noticed a far greater willingness among farmers to share their challenges and thinks Farmstrong is helping normalise those conversations.
“Farmstrong’s made farmers aware that if you’re under the pump you don’t have to keep it all hidden behind closed doors. The Women in Wool fundraiser really helped to spread that message throughout this community.
“I don’t think those ladies appreciate quite how much good they’ve have done, not just raising money, but raising that awareness.
“A lot of farmers have no one to talk to except themselves and everyone has a bad day from time to time. As an industry we’ve ignored that for far too long so it’s good to see something finally happening.”
Watson-Paul’s experience being involved in the Women for Wool fundraiser has also opened his eyes about the value of trying something different.
“It was a fresh challenge for me too.
“We’d been shearing for so long we never thought about it but we had to work out why we did certain things and pass that on to these ladies who normally do office work and move in completely different circles to us.
“That was great for us. It was two worlds coming together.
“Farmers don’t have to be on farm 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are all sorts of things they could do out there to get them away from their environment, especially if it’s not going so well.
“Why not try something totally out of your comfort zone like these women did? Twelve months ago they’d never held a handpiece but they learnt to shear as a group and had a grand old time. I think many farmers would enjoy farming more if they could just get off farm regularly and try something new.”
