A DONEGAL man has set a new world record by shearing 867 sheep in just nine hours.
Ivan Scott from Kilmacrennan, Co. Donegal flew to England to beat the record on Sunday.
He spent nine hours on the shearing boards at Trefranck Farm in Cornwall beating New Zealand's Dion King's nine-year record of 866, which has stood since 2007, by a single lamb.
A champion shearer Scott had already won nine All-Ireland sheep shearing competitions.
The 35-year-old, who is based in New Zealand, has worked every shearing season there since 2000.
Scott completed five gruelling rounds of sheep shearing throughout the day, beginning at 5am and ending at 5pm.
To hit his total he had just 37.37 seconds to shear each individual sheep.
In order to meet the competition regulations each lamb had to produce at least 3kg of wool to count.
This is the first time the record has been held by anyone from the northern hemisphere.
Back in April the Irishman set the world record for fastest time shearing a single sheep live on RTÉ's Big Week on the Farm.
With the world record in the bag, Scott is now due to start training for the 40th anniversary World Sheep Shearing Championships due to be held in Invercargill, Scotland next year.
