FOUR TIMES Golden Shears champion Rowland Smith is to take on the world 'Eight Hour Ewe Shearing' record at the end of July, at an event in Cornwall.

The famed kiwi will attempt to shear more than 605 ewes within that eight hour timeframe – which means he will have to shear each sheep in less than 47 seconds. This current record has not been beaten since 2010.

British Wool’s south west board member Alan Marshall commented: “We are delighted to welcome Rowland to the UK and to support him in his world record attempt. Shearing is vital to the sheep industry and events like this really help to promote shearing as a sport, and showcase British wool to a wider audience.

“On behalf of everyone at British Wool I would like to wish Rowland the very best of luck in what will be an extremely demanding challenge.”