A POWYS sheep shearer has set a new British record after shearing 902 lambs in nine hours.

Lloyd Rees, 28, completed the gruelling feat on Friday, August 19, at Blaenbwch Farm, near Builth Wells.

Lloyd, from Llandefalle, between Brecon and Builth, smashed the current UK solo 9-hour record by 21 sheep – a record that had only been set a week earlier by Nick Greaves. He had shorn 881 sheep in Staffordshire. Stu Connors had previously held the British record of 872 lambs.

Lloyd’s target was at least 882 – meaning he would have to shear one lamb every 27 seconds, or 98 per hour.

The challenge started at the crack of dawn, with Lloyd shearing from 5am and completing lamb number 902 sometime around 5pm. Lloyd completed 5 ‘runs’ throughout the day, shearing 203 lambs from 5am-7am before a break for breakfast. He then racked up 174, 171, 177 and 177 more lambs in the following four sessions – squeezing in a few breaks in-between – before the record was finally his.

Lloyd, glistening in his own sweat, was given a rapturous ovation after the record was claimed by a large crowd who had packed into a shed at the farm to watch him throughout the day. The challenge was also live-streamed on Instagram.

“Thank you to every single person who has donated and taking their time to write a good luck message,” said Lloyd who, in addition to challenging himself, was using the event to raise money for two charities close to his heart.

“The money raised from the event will go to our two chosen charities, Parkinson’s UK Cymru and The Welsh Air Ambulance Service.”

Leading up to the event, it was revealed Lloyd’s grandmother, who suffered with Parkinson’s, had died in hospital following a fall.

“I also want to thank my sponsors. Without you, days like these just don’t happen,” added Lloyd.

“The costs incurred running and organising records are quite large and wouldn’t get off the ground otherwise.

“I want to say a special thanks to Lister for the support and resource they have given me. It has been incredible and is hugely appreciated.”

In a post celebrating Lloyd’s achievement, Shearers Events said: “Congratulations to Lloyd. We have a new British lamb shearing record where Lloyd smashed the current British record by 21 sheep, shearing a tally of 902 lambs.

“This will be the first 900 tally to ever hit a shearing record stage. Lloyd is an amazing athlete to forge ahead and shear 902 lambs and be the first shearer in the world to ever achieve shearing 900 in any shearing record.

“Lloyd's performance was ultimately inspiring, to see how he held on consistently with such an incredible amount of stamina and he still (had) enough energy to burn in the final stages.

“The event also had a deep and meaningful reason behind it. Lloyd trained hard to break this British record; he wanted to help bring his community together and to create awareness of how important it is to keep their local charities going.

“As Lloyd and his family live in such a rural area he reached out to his community with a call of help to keep supporting the Wales Air Ambulance charity.

“Lloyd also sheared his heart out in memory of his grandmother who suffered with Parkinson’s and as a result had a fall and broke her hip, which unfortunately landed her in hospital. It was a very difficult time for Lloyd and his family as his grandmother did not survive the fall and sadly passed away, so Lloyd would like to give back to Parkinson's UK.”

County Times: Loyd is pictured with family, friends and supporters at Blaenbwch following his successful record attempt. Pic courtesy of Shearing Sports Wales Loyd is pictured with family, friends and supporters at Blaenbwch following his successful record attempt. Pic courtesy of Shearing Sports Wales

Lloyd received fantastic praise throughout the agricultural community and beyond, including Brecon and Radnorshire MP Fay Jones who was on hand to witness his record-breaking feat. “Enormous congratulations to Lloyd Rees,” said Ms Jones, who was at Blaenbwch on Friday.

“He smashed the British 9-hour lamb sheering record reaching 902!! It was incredible to be there and to see what it meant to Lloyd, his team, his family and the whole community.

“Well done Lloyd, enjoy your celebrations tonight. You must be exhausted.”

Lloyd has so far raised £2,430 to share between both charities. You can continue to contribute to and visit his page at https://justgiving.com/team/LloydReesRecord. Alternatively, to re-watch his fifth run and to see him shearing lamb No 902, visit https://www.instagram.com/p/ChcnZkvj7AI/.