A world sheep shearing record attempt is going ahead in central Hawke's Bay despite the fact it won't be recognised as an official bid.
Three shearers led by former world champion Cam Ferguson are trying to break the world eight-hour, three-stand record of 1784 lambs set by King Country shearers 14 years ago.
Even if they break the record, it won't be recognised by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society because the judges rejected the sheep to be used in the event.
The judges, including one from Australia, inspected the animals on Wednesday and ruled that too many of the more than 2000 Texel Perendale cross lambs didn't meet the specifications.
Next week, Golden Shears and National champion John Kirkpatrick and three Southland shearers will set the bench-mark for a new four-stand record in Southland,
On 12 February, King Country shearer Stacey Te Huia will tackle the ultimate target, the nine-hour ewe shearing record of 721 set by Hawke's Bay shearer Rodney Sutton in 2007.
