It proved second time lucky for King Country Shearer Stacey Te Huia, as he broke the world eight hour ewe shearing record in Te Kuiti on Wednesday.

Te Huia, 32, shore 603 predominantly Romney ewes to smash the previous record by 25 at Moketenui Station – although the attempt wasn’t short of drama.

A brief power cut, and torrential rain in the days leading up to the shear both threatened to derail the attempt, with the conditions making the wool tougher to clip.

“The rain made it a bit tighter, which is harder to cut through, but it didn’t affect me too much” Te Huia said.

Te Huia says hard work in the gym and shearing in Australia both helped in his preparation for the record, getting him into good condition ahead of the day.

“I trained hard out for eight months, and yeah, I guess it paid off in the end,” he laughed.

And he says another crack at the record may be on the cards in the future.

“We’ll see how it goes” he said, “I want a good break over Christmas first.”