At the end of an eight-hour slog of nonstop sheep shearing, the team of five Kiwi lads set a new record of 3236 lambs — beating the previous record by 326.
Team leader Max Winders, of Colac Bay, described breaking the record as "the biggest dopamine hit you could ever get".
"We’re very stoked to have it done and get our names in the record books."
Mr Winders said the whole team had done their best and had made sure the bar was set a little higher for the next people.
The five record-breaking shearers represented Forde Winders Shearing Ltd, a Riverton-based shearing company.
Mr Winders was joined by his cousins Josef Winders, of Invercargill, and Ben Boyle, of Colac Bay.
Rounding out the ranks was Waikato-raised Trent Hewes and Trevor Holland, of Taranaki.
Blake Hewes, Trent’s twin, joined the team in reserve.
The team set up shop at Campbell Block, a shearing shed at the Grant Bros Farm in the Hokonui Hills, which set the stage for the attempt.
Forde Winders Shearing administrator Lana Winders said the record-breaking attempt had been in the works since March last year.
The lads had never attempted a shot at the record before, but were not hesitant to put themselves under the pump to get the job done.
"The boys have been doing a lot of hard work to prepare for this," Ms Winders said.
"They’ve tried to leave no stone unturned in terms of the fitness, nutrition and the strength-building.
"They’ve become quite lean, mean machines."
The five shearers, in each of their own stands, shaved lamb after lamb over four sets of two hours — a total of eight hours continuous shearing.
The previous record was 2910 lambs, set in 2015, with the men needing to shave more than 75 lambs an hour each, or 150 per run, in order to beat it, Mrs Winders said.
By the end of the first run, the shearers were off to a "roaring start", sitting 90 lambs ahead of target.
Mrs Winders said about 400 spectators had shown up to the shearing sheds to witness history in the making.
Judges from the United Kingdom flew in to verify the official tally.
She said the team had received amazing support from the shearing community, including that of the previous record holders.
While the air was hot with anticipation for setting a new record, it was marred by a twinge of sadness — the cousins’ grandmother had died the night before the attempt.
Max Winders said their grandmother’s passing had played on his and each of his cousins’ minds throughout the day, but allowed them to dig deep and push themselves to the limit.
"When you’re in a bit of a hole, you’re like let’s go — let’s do it for nana."
"The team that we’ve got, we’re brothers in arms pretty much. We couldn’t have done it with a better crew."
