WELLINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand shearer Catherine Mullooly smashed a world shearing record on Wednesday.
Mullooly, 34-year-old mother-of-two, set a new solo women's eight-hour strongwool ewes record of 465 in coastal King Country in New Zealand's North Island.
Mullooly had a quality rating of 10.4, well within the threshold set by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.
She was considered by most onlookers as "amazing" considering the struggle with "stroppy" sheep during the day, the national sports organization Shearing Sports New Zealand said in a statement.
Another New Zealand shearer Amy Silcock had held the record for just three days after shearing 386 near Pahiatua, a rural service town in southeastern North Island, on Sunday.
Mullooly averaged over 58 sheep an hour throughout Wednesday, about 28 tons of sheep hauled onto the board, shorn and departing through the porthole, clipping over 1.6 tons of wool, the statement said.
This also passed the women's nine-hour record of 452 in the last quarter-hour, it said.
Mullooly in 2014 became the first woman to attain a No. 1 ranking in any grade since Shearing Sports New Zealand put a rankings system in place in 1992.
Since the World Sheep Shearing Records Society was established in 1983, records have been set in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England. ■
