Bejon Haswell/Stuff
Robin Krause learns how to shear at the Elite Wool Industry Training Beginner Shearing course in Waimate this week.
Trainee shearers hope to take up some of the slack caused fromthe shortage of overseas shearers affected by Covid-19 border controls.
While the New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association told
Stuff in 2017
between 10 and 15 per cent of shearing gangs comprised shearers from overseas, 60 overseas shearers are allowed into the country in 2021, through border exemptions between January to March to help ease the problem, according to Immigration New Zealand.
Elite Wool Industry Training trainer Eli Cummings said while South Canterbury had not been badly affected by a shortage, he expected there would be a gap when the borders re-opened and Australian shearers here returned home.