Lockhart female shearer Nicki Guttler continues to make a name for herself in the male-dominated field of shearing.
The Jamestown Show in October was the precursor to the National shearing competition. It was a great warm up for the competitors to hone their skills for the Nationals the following day.
Nicki started off shearing in the Open competition as the only female competing and surprised even herself by coming sixteenth out of 35 leaving quite a few seasoned Open shearers in her wake.
Next she lined up for the Open Wool Handling. Although Nicki had not competed in a wool handling competition since the State Titles in May, she finished up middle of the pack again, coming 13th out of 27.
Once again, there were some experienced competitors that finished behind her.
To finish the day off, Nicki sharpened up her blades for the Open Blade Shear, competing against some renowned blade shearers, even a couple from New Zealand. She finished eighth.
Nicki enjoys the challenge of shearing with blades and tries to improve her technique and skill.
On Sunday October 22 at the Nationals she had a strong start in the heats of the Senior Shearing, finishing second to Danielle Mauger, who is from WA but is working in the Lockhart area at the moment. Nicki was feeling quietly confident heading into the final. After starting off in the final with a couple of uncooperative, yellowish sheep, she finished off strongly but was disappointed with her shear.
Even though Nicki qualified for the Wool Handling at Nationals, due to some rules and regulations she was unable to compete. Nicki then sharpened up her blades again, a new pair and the ever reliable 100 year old pair that were given to her by Lockhart’s own shearer Davey Gowland.
As Nicki is still learning the art of sharpening and setting up her blades, the new ones only lasted for halfway through the first of three sheep. She then swapped to the old faithful pair of Davey’s which got her through to the end. She had that grin back on her face and she was enjoying herself.
Although slightly outclassed with John Dalla (SA) who is ranked fourth in the world, Andy Murray (NSW) a regular Australian representative and the other men with a few more years of experience behind them, Nicki finished not too far behind the second last shearer to a resounding cheer and had a grin from ear to ear.
Just to have the opportunity to compete at Nationals is a huge achievement for all of the competitors, including Nicki. Placings were very close, with just one whole point between sixth and third.
Jamestown only has a population of about 1400, so the organisation of the event was a huge task – that population figure would have nearly doubled over the championship weekend.
Nicki obviously drew on her competition experience and was very happy to come away with third place.
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 7 December 2023.
