At a solo record attempt in Tasmania, the 37-year-old attained the highest number of crossbred lambs shorn in eight hours – 605 – smashing the previous record of 527.
He sweated it out in 35 deg C heat, on a mission to reclaim the record he had first attained in 2019 when he’d shorn 524 sheep.
Now living in the town of Gunning in southern New South Wales, Copp told the Selwyn Times he first became interested in shearing while growing up on a lifestyle block at West Melton.
“Whenever they used to do the shearing on his place, I was the first one in there as a little fellow, picking up the fleece and stuff,” Copp said.
He left St Thomas of Canterbury College at the end of year 9 to attend Telford Rural Polytechnic at Balclutha for one year.
“I didn’t like school and I just wanted to be on the land doing something.”
It was at the polytech where he got to first shear a sheep, at age 15.
“I loved it, the physicality of it, and also the money side of things. What some farm jobs paid in a week, shearers were making that in a day. It made sense to me if I could get the wool off these sheep, I could make a lot more.”
At the age of 16 he was working full-time as a shearer, a job which has taken him throughout his home country as well as Australia, America and Europe.
He has also been to the Himalayas, where he was involved in an initiative to teach local farmers how to machine shear so they could profit from their sheep.
Today he runs his own shearing contract business, employing eight people, while shearing two days a week and spending other days in the gym training for world record attempts.
Copp is the current holder of a second world title, as one of five team members who shore the most lambs in eight hours, a record attained in 2015.
He is now gearing up for a solo record attempt in late May, for shearing the most merino ewes in eight hours. The current record is 497.
“I want to get it over 500, I’m well into the 400s. I’m putting all the training in to have a decent attempt at it,” Copp said.
His training regime is gruelling. After a full day in the shed shearing, he will head out for a 20km run with a weighted vest on, or hit the rowing machine for more than an hour.
This stood him in good stead for the most recent world record success.
“I knew I had the stamina and the cardio to back it up if things went my way,” Copp said.
“Your body is telling you to ease up a bit, but you have to control your mind and sort of push through the pain.”
The pain had been felt most in his lower back and legs, due to having to maintain a bent-over standing position for hours on end.
Exhausted while talking to journalists after the event, Copp said he had not expected to shear as many sheep as he did.
“I just tried to stay positive even though I was in a little bit of pain here and there, but I always believed in myself,” he said.
