Rural & Agriculture
5 November, 2025
Lyons amazing world record
MARNOO is the place where an impressive world record was met by a female shearer. On Wednesday, October 15, in a shearing on Glendemar Farm, Marnoo, owned by Ben and Cheryl Duxson, Nikki Lyons from Yass in southern NSW, set a world record as the first female to shear more than 500 merino lambs in a day.
The 38-year-old shore 502 lambs between 6am and 6pm, with nine of those hours spent shearing.
The 38-year-old who grew up in Western Australia, and started shearing when she was 17, shore 502 lambs in nine hours, a record no woman had attempted before, which was a phenomenal feat. During the attempt, Lyons wore garments made from Merino wool.
This was not Lyons’ first attempt, previously setting a world record in 2024.
On that day, Lyons shorn 395 merino lambs in eight hours in a shearing shed in Bowning near Yass, in southern NSW. To show how amazing it was, it worked out to be an average of 72.3 seconds per lamb.
Her recent efforts at Marnoo achieved a record no woman had attempted before.
Despite the impressive haul, Ms Lyons was ruing the lambs she missed.
"That's the thing about records, you've always got more," she said with a laugh.
It was a moment of redemption for Ms Lyons who set the eight hour record last year, only to see it broken a month later.
She said she attempted the record in Victoria, rather than her home state, because the lambswool was cleaner and easier to remove.
Ms Lyons spent her early years on the shears before turning her attention to a growing family of four.
The world record was the fulfilment of a promise she made to her younger self.
"I'm proud that I kept a promise to my 17-year-old self and that as a woman, I still got back up and did something after having children," she told the ABC.
Ms Lyons took a decade away from shearing to raise her kids, returning to the industry during the COVID-induced shearer shortage.
"I've had a few moments this morning just sitting in the shed and I just thought, 'Wow, all of this has been 21 years in the making,"' she said.
"It was really moving to see so many people with a tear in their eye for you, and for your achievement.
"It's definitely a moment you keep with you for the rest of your life,” she told the ABC.
ABC Radio reported Ms Lyons was back on the tools the day after her record-breaking attempt, having recovered better than she had imagined.
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