Mother and daughter break shearing record

A Wairoa mother and daughter have stunned the shearing World by each shearing a record 903 lambs in eight hours - more than a hundred more than they ever themselves dreamed possible.

The huge tally by 54-year-ol;d Marg Baynes and daughter Ingrid, 22, came today at Moketenui Station, Mangapehi (between Te Kuiti and Bannydale), in the King Country.

They claimed the vacant World women's two-stand eight-hour strongwool lambs record record, with Ingrid easily surpassing her previous best of 310 to also claim the vacant women's solo record with a tally of 470, which 10 years ago would have been good enough to beat the men's record.

Shearing the standard eight-hour-day from 7am to 5pm with two half-hour breaks for smoko and an hour for lunch, Ingrid Baynes had an impeccable day, opening with 116, shore 117 in the run to lunch, and passed her previous best in the third run, also of 117, before finishing with 120, her best run of the day, 120. Her mother had runs of 112, 112, 108 and 108, but had three rejected by the four judges, headed by Australian Bernie Walker, and finished with a tally of 433.

Other milestones they passed were overtaking individual goals of 400, which Ingrid claimed with 1hr 10min to go, and which her mother passed just over half an hour later, a few minute before also beating her previous best of 408 set 36 years ago.

Another one to chalk on the board was the mark of 648, the highest women's tally in the books, shorn by Waikaretu shearer Emily Welch when she broke the women's nine-hour record 14 months ago. Welch was among the helpers as Northern Hawke's Bay's finest passed that mark after five-and-threequarter hours.

Marg Baynes first thought of the record bid 18 months ago, and told mother Lilian (crrct) Wright, who had raised eight children near Kawhia, and all could shear.

Mrs Wright said as she watched the record unfold in front of a crowd which swelled to over 200: "I thought she was mad."

With mother and daughter shedding jeans, singlets and moccasins and already dressed glamourously in evening wear to accept their colmmemorative certificates half an hour after the shearing finished, Marg Baynes said she wanted to do something like the record with someone in her family before she was too old.

"If we hadn't been doing this together, I would have forgotten about it a long time ago," said Mrs Baynes, who battled a back injury throughout, but survived with the tender care and encouragement of husband Colin, daughter and Te Kuiti physiotherpist Storm Baynes, and a huge band of crew and supporters, many of whom travelled from Northern Hawke's Bay for the day.

Ingrid, who cut her non-shearing left hand in practice last week, perhaps revelaed herunderlying confidence when she said she was able to think of other things during the arduous day on the board, like whether the speech she had pre-written had thanked all of those who helped.

"And I'm really looking forward to my first beer for a while," she said.

ENDS

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