Professional Sheep Shearer smashes the Irish shearing record

Tom Perry, a 33-year-old professional Sheep Shearer and Farmer from Strabane, County Tyrone was successful last month in shattering the Irish 9 Hour Solo Lamb Shearing Record previously set by Stanley Allingham in 2019. Tom clipped 858 lambs beating the current record total of 708 lambs in a shearing showcase across nine hours.

The record was a truly global event that was livestreamed online with many also there on the day to support including Ulster Wool. At the end of the nine hour an emotional and tired Tom thanked family, friends and well-wishers.  Tom also thanked his team of helpers and supporters, as any shearing record cannot take place without a huge team effort in pulling everything together to make things happen on the day.  

Shearing has allowed Tom to travel worldwide for over 10 years and he has been a finalist at many international ‘open’ shearing competitions.  He has also proudly represented his country having previously been a member of the Northern Ireland team that won the Six Nations event at the Balmoral Show in 2022 and this year was crowned Royal Ulster National Champion.

Brendan Kelly, Chairman, Ulster Wool said: “A huge congratulations to Tom on what is an excellent achievement. Record attempts are an opportunity to showcase the highly skilled individuals driving the industry forward while also helping to promote the quality of our wool to wider audiences.

“As a key industry body, we are totally committed to supporting champions as representatives and ambassadors. We’re delighted to have supported Tom to help him achieve his goal and wish him the very best of luck in the future.”

Donations from the day went towards Rural Support, an agriculturally minded charity, based in Northern Ireland.