Powys sheep shearing record breaker gives £20,000 to charity

The superb amount of money was raised by Lloyd Rees after he achieved the record last year – the 29-year-old stunningly sheared 902 lambs in nine hours.

Lloyd achieved the feat at a raucous event that drew in a huge crowd – including Brecon and Radnorshire MP Fay Jones – at Blaenbwch Farm, near Builth Wells, on August 19, 2022.

Lloyd blitzed the previous UK solo nine-hour record by 21 sheep – a record that had only been set a week earlier by Nick Greaves, who had shorn 881 sheep in Staffordshire.

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Lloyd, from Llandefalle, between Builth and Brecon, is splitting the money between the Wales Air Ambulance and Parkinson's UK Cymru, with the proceeds donated to both charities by Lloyd at the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd last month.

Clare Tipton, of Parkinson’s, received a cheque off Lloyd, who had donated to the charity via the South Powys Parkinson’s Support Group.

The charity was chosen because Lloyd’s beloved grandmother suffered with the condition and her last years were made more challenging with Parkinson’s.

She died in hospital following a fall shortly before he set the record.

Both charities received £10,080, with the presentation made on the sheep shearing stage at this year’s Royal Welsh.

Lloyd’s had hoped to shear 882 sheep – one lamb every 27 seconds, or 98 per hour.

But during the challenge, which began at 5am and ended 12 hours later, and which was live-streamed on Instagram, he smashed that target.

Lloyd pictured with family, friends and supporters at Blaenbwch following his successful record attempt. Pic courtesy of Shearing Sports Wales (Image: None)

In a post celebrating Lloyd’s achievement, Shearers Events said: “Congratulations to Lloyd. We have a new British lamb shearing record.

“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.

“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.”

To re-watch his fifth and final run and to see him shearing lamb No 902, visit https://www.instagram.com/p/ChcnZkvj7AI/.