The first thing they did when they got to England was to buy an old trailer and convert it into a portable shearing platform.

“We built a fold-down board and set up the machines on the edge,” she said.

After more than a year travelling and shearing in England and Scotland, Marg returned to her parent’s farm. She met her husband Colin, a former Canterbury man, about that time.

The couple began share-farming on the family’s Oparau property after her father moved to another property in Wanganui. One of her sisters took part of the farm.

Just 18 months later she and Colin drew one of the last ballots for blocks in Taupo, getting a block in Poihipi Road. It was 24ha broken in and good pumice

country for sheep and beef.

Their eventual move to Wairoa in northern Hawke’s Bay came when they went to manage a friend’s farm. The small rural town and lifestyle suited both them and their five children.

“The kids loved it. This is home to them.”

In February, 1993, the Baynes moved to Makapua Station at Ardkeen, on SH38, which runs from Wairoa to Lake Waikaremoana. While they ran it as a farm, it had plenty of scattered kanuka bush which had to be cleared by hand.

The Baynes children had camping holidays at the back of the farm while their parents took scrub bars to the bush.

Today the Baynes run 1200 ewes and about 330 cows on Makapua, plus about 100 deer.

They have a trophy-hunting block of bush and during the roar Colin acts as guide for experienced hunters and newcomers to the sport. Colin estimates that more than 150 people have shot their first deer on his block.

When Marg and Ingrid decided to tackle the world shearing record, Marg was able to earn income and train by shearing during the build-up period to the successful January 14 attempt. Ingrid had worked out in a gym and was shearing during December.

A hike in the World Shearing Record Society’s fee of US$2700 meant it would cost the Baynes and their sponsors around NZ$5000 to make the record bid. And in a further blow, Ingrid gashed her left arm during practice in the Mangapehi shed near Te Kuiti, where the record attempt was held.

But nothing could stop the pair as they sheared their 903 record tally, Ingrid shearing 470 and her mother 433 – surpassing her personal best of 408 set 36 years earlier.

Marg’s daughter Storm, a physiotherapist in Otarahanga, has taught the pair straightening exercises but Marg experienced back pain shearing the previous week and needed pain-killers on the record-attempt day.

“Normally I don’t have a problem with my back with lambs but I did fight back pain that day.”

Heavy sheep tend to be harder on her back and she usually uses a sling with them.

Some swimming and gym work in Wairoa also helped her prepare for what some describe as the equivalent of running two marathons back to back.

During the winter she was shearing two or three days a week. She said there are not many sports where you can train and earn money.

Marg is modest about her shearing ability and said she and Ingrid were greatly boosted by several hundreds supporters who went to Te Kuiti.

The behind-the-scenes preparation for a world record is extraordinary. Each solid ply, carpeted pen is built to hold 20 sheep. A second carpeted pen holds another 15 sheep which are kept warmed up to make shearing easier.

Both women were allowed a coach on the board plus two seconds who provide drinks and other support. Six or seven helpers, away from the bright lights and big screens, keep the sheep warm and bring them forward.

“I have to catch them but they fill the pen up,” said Marg.

Each lamb must have .09kg of wool so the day before the record attempt, every 20th sheep is drafted to get a pen of 20. They are shorn in front of judges and the wool weighed and averaged.

With a lifetime of shearing and a world record behind her, Marg got some coaching from Wairoa farmer Bart Hadfield, who, with Hawke’s Bay shearer Rod Sutton and Taihape’s Steve Stoney set a nine-hour, three-stand record in 1997.

He taught the pair different techniques: how every blow had to be fairly precise; where to place their heads and feet; and whether a blow requires a bent or straight leg.

“You never stop learning about shearing. It’s a huge science – and so addictive,” said Marg.

She studies other shearers but admits it’s not always possible to pick up all the subtleties.

The Baynes will get their formal recognition at the New Zealand shearing championships in Te Kuiti from April 2 to 4.

In the meantime, Ingrid has moved to Hastings where she has taken a job with Brownrigg Agriculture’s wagyu beef unit.

brendan@webbz.net.nz