Seven years ago, when Kain Nixon started teaching at Feilding High School (FAHS), around 10 to 20 senior students would sign up for the school’s extra-curricular shearing programme each year. 

Fast forward to today and they almost can’t keep up with demand. More than 100 students are going through the courses each year and, it just so happens that PGG Wrightson’s Lower North Island Wool Representative Ian Hopkirk may have something to do with it. 

“The school has a roll of around 1650 students, of which 700 students opt into an agriculture/horticulture subject,” explains Kain, Head of Agriculture and Horticulture at FAHS. 

“And because 80% of our students come from a sheep/beef background (or have a strong interest in the sector), agriculture is a very special department to the school. So we have an extensive programme, from agrisports to shearing courses, interhouse shearing and woolhandling, show shearing and woolhandling, beekeeping, lamb/calf day and more.”

Then one day, along came Ian to offer his shearing expertise to Kain and the school. Born and bred on a sheep and cattle farm out the back of Taumarunui, it’s fair to say Ian’s spent most of his working life in the wool industry in some capacity or another; shearing in New Zealand, shearing overseas, running a shearing contracting business, training shearers, selling shearing gear, wool harvesting, wool handling and more recently, judging in competitions. 

“The wool industry has done me very well as a career, so I thought there might be some way I could give back and help to train and develop another generation of people to go into shearing and wool handling,” says Ian. 

“And I think school is a great place for learning what happens in a woolshed. Because while many will come out of the course with an interest to pursue a career in this field, there may also be a few who find out on day one that they don’t want to see another sheep again - and that’s okay.” 

There’s no question it’d be rather tricky to find anyone close to the knowledge Ian has about the world of wool, which is why Kain jumped at the opportunity to have him volunteer at the school to run some shearing courses. And every year since, the achievements have continued to roll in. 

“Along with the main courses, Ian was instrumental in setting up a show shearing/interhouse shearing and wool handling competition. This involves a group of around 20 students - which I would say are the ‘cream of the crop’ - who want to follow the shearing circuits around the North Island to compete. 

“So we have specific show shearing courses that help those interested to develop their craft to a show standard and we had 11 students actively show shearing in the 2023/24 season - including those competing in the novice and junior comp at Golden Shears. We had a junior who placed 3rd, which is an outstanding result, and we also placed 4th in the school's competition.

“We also compete in the New Zealand secondary school shearing comp at the rural games and we’ve placed 1st over the past two years.”

However, Ian isn’t in it to win. He almost sees it as his duty to pass along his knowledge to the next generation of those who may be interested in a career in the wool industry, like him, or - even better - encouraging those who hadn’t even considered it. 

“Everybody gains their experience from somewhere and while you can’t teach experience (it’s only something you gain over time), you can share what you’ve learned, hoping that it helps someone else on their journey. It’s a passion of mine, and while I’m not the only one in the wider industry, this is something I can personally do, and I enjoy it.” 

But while Ian remains pretty humble about his contribution to the school, Kain is more than happy to say that there is no way the students and the school could have accomplished any of this without him. 

“Ian has allowed us to offer this skill to such a large group of kids which otherwise would not be possible. With a teaching background, he knows how to deal with kids and get information across and he also has a very methodical way of teaching and gets the students into good habits - by demonstrating best practice. This ensures they are able to shear sheep, while looking after their bodies and the animal,” says Kain. 

“To set everyone up to do well, Ian starts with the absolute basics, from right from putting together a handpiece, to grinding gear and caring for gear, through to getting the wool off the sheep in the most efficient way. 

“We’re just so thankful to have him giving us his time, expertise and knowledge.”