What it takes to get people to work in the shearing industry

Want a job that pays well and allows you to travel? Maybe you should sign up to be a shearer like Rikki.

A fun job involving travel and good pay sounds like a perfect life and that’s exactly what Rikki Aspinall has found in the shearing industry.

The self-confessed city girl who grew up in Sunbury has found her dream role working in shearing sheds, and wants others to know how good it is.

While working as a rouseabout at the moment for Echuca-based contractor Hamish Strawhorn, Rikki is doing a week-long shearing school next week at Nathalia and hopes to soon be on the handpiece.

“The work is hard and the hours are long but there is something really good about working hard physically which I love,” Rikki said.

“You are never working in the same place, every day is different and it’s fun working in a great team.

“While I was a city girl and people probably wondered if I could do it, you can win them over if you show you can work hard and do your job properly.”

Rikki Aspinall was originally a city girl. Now she's a city girl turned country and works as a roustabout with the aim of becoming a full time shearer once she finishes shearing school. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Already Rikki has tried her hand at shearing and is looking forward to being able to learn how to do it properly when she goes to her training.

“I’ve done little bits of shearing, like the back leg and the long blow and I am looking forward to being shown how to do the whole sheep,” she said.

“It definitely is a skill and I like that and the fact that it’s a bit competitive.”

But being in a good team is vital, she said, to making sure the experience was positive.

“It is the environment and the people that make it great,” she said.

Picture: Zoe Phillips

Mr Strawhorn, who has three teams and 15 shearers on his books, recently spoke to students at Assumption College in Kilmore and encouraged them to consider working in shearing sheds even as a gap year job to earn money and gain skills.

“There is plenty of work, you can make good money and you could treat it like a paid travel holiday,” he said.

“You can make more money in shearing than you can as an apprentice in a lot of other trades and if you are in a good team, then the work is enjoyable too.

“From my perspective, there is every reason to go into it.”

Those wishing to be part of an Australian Wool Innovation shearer or wool handling school can visit wool.com.au and can register online with training held regularly across Australia.

For training schools for hearers and shed hands in Victoria, phone [phone] or email [e-mail].