SAMSON, the Monaro sheep with the mighty fleece, has lost his luscious locks - and it looks like he’s shorn Kiwi Shrek of his record in the process.
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While Wallabies aren’t faring too well in comparison to their New Zealand counterparts, the Australian heavyweight is staking a claim on Shrek's decade-old 27 kilogram record, with a fleece weighing in at a whopping 27.53kg.
After roaming the southern NSW hills alone for so long, shorn Samson “is still very flighty” when approached, but is in remarkably good condition and is enjoying life back on the farm.
Samson's ward said the sheep's welfare had been the chief concern.
"The reason we wanted to catch him in the first place was we were concerned about fly-strike.
"With summer approaching, and with him carrying all that wool, we always had the animal's interest at heart."
According to his guardian, Samson’s fleece was “extremely matted”.
“It came off him in a big solid lump, like an armadillo’s shell,” he said.
Shortly after shearing Samson was put in a pen with two female friends and quickly celebrated with a big drink while chomping down chaff and laying into some lucerne.
He is now showing off his new 'do, strutting his stuff in the royal colours.
Click this image to see more pics of mighty Samson in our online gallery.
Courtesy of a newly adopted grandmother, Samson has a purple robe with woolly lining specially sewn in, to make sure the loss of locks isn't too much of a shock to the system.
Samson’s 'Delilah' was gun shearer Danny Barker, who flew all the way from north-west Tasmania to clip the mighty Monaro wanderer.
But thankfully Samson doesn’t appear to be wondering why? why? why? he had to be shorn.
“He wasn’t stressed at all. Samson was sedated, like all big rams are in Australian sheds, but even then he just walked up the ramp like he owned the joint,” said the woolly mammoth's guardian, who wants to remain anonymous.
“He didn’t miss a beat, and was remarkably calm throughout the whole process.
“The shearer did a bloody awesome job, and quickly too. There was barely a nick and not a bootlace on him, which is amazing when you think how matted Samson’s wool was.”
Click this image to see more pics of mighty Samson in our online gallery.
Samson was obviously in need of a serious makeover. But onlookers were amazed that Samson was in such good condition, given he had roamed the rugged mountains alone for years.
The local minister was on hand to vouch for the weighing of the fleece, to meet the rigorous standards of the Australian Record Book.
Footage of the process, which used digital scales and went so far as to deduct the five gram weights of wool bale clips from the total, has been sent off for verification.
In January, reports emerged from the land of the long white cloud of Big Ben – a seriously woolly sheep whose fleece weighed in at 28.9kg.
But there is hope yet for Samson, and Aussie pride, as Big Ben's weigh-in was unofficial and had not been confirmed at the time of reporting.
Mike Foley
Senior journalist for The Land.
Senior journalist for The Land.
