The builders of South Africa's wool industry

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03:06

Moving from one farm to another with their traditional big scissors and sharp skills, South African shearers have been defying the rise of automation, maintaining the country’s leading position among the world's major wool exporters.

Mayenzeke Shweni is a world champion blade shearer who comes from a small town in central South Africa.

“When my father returned from the mines in Johannesburg and came home in the 1980s, he joined the shearing business and watching him, I soon realized this is a valuable skill,” he said.

In his 40s, Shweni can only speak the Xhosa language, but his fame has traveled beyond the borders of his village.

South Africa is famous for the production of the finest wool. The country houses large farms that rear the best kind of sheep with the best kind of fleece. A skilled shearer can spend anywhere between eight to 11 months a year traveling from farm to farm.

“Shearing is hard work physically and if you are not fit and well, it’s very difficult,” Shweni said.

The ancient craft has turned into a modern sport and today, shearers from all over the world compete to prove their prowess.

Most of the 15 million sheep in South Africa are shorn by blade shearers – as opposed to other countries where most shearers use electric hand pieces to shear their sheep.

“I first tried the machine in 2008 but the machine wasn’t easy for me at first. Our local electric shearers can’t compete with the strength and speed of the international shearers. We are too slow. Our electric shearers are not at the same standard as the international shearers,” Shweni said.

Some wool farms are located in the countryside where infrastructure, such as electricity grids, is still catching up, slowing their progress in production upgrade.

According to Cape Wool, the official representative organization of the South African wool industry, wool price has risen by 19.39 percent during 2017/18 season from the earlier season. Exchange rate and China’s demand contributed to the price increases, Cape Wool’s report noted.