Cutting Edge Shearing team talk on work-life balance and safety

Cutting Edge Shearing manager Michael Sorenson moved from Winton, Qld, to Winchelsea to chase financial stability, "decent shearing weather" and a better work-life balance.

Now he manages up to 25 shearers in the peak season and about 54 workers altogether to ensure more than 400,000 sheep in Victoria are shorn and ready for summer.

He started working in the industry as a teenager, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncles, who were long-time shearers in Queensland.

"Where I'm from, they shear some in the summer but it's just so hot that you need to chase the weather," he said.

"You come and shear in Victoria or NSW then go back to Queensland in April to beat the heat.

"I did shearing for this run 10 years prior, then the boss asked if I wanted to have a crack and take the business over a few years ago.

"I've been in Victoria for over 12 years now."

But he said the past few years hadn't been smooth sailing, after he went into cardiac arrest in his sleep just months after taking over the business and two weeks after welcoming his son, who is now three-years-old.

"It was coming into the busier period and I was trying to find people, I honestly feel like it was [caused by] stress," he said.

"I could just feel it and I was going to the doctors saying something wasn't right, and they said I was fit as a fiddle.

"My partner woke up at 2am and started CPR until the ambulance arrived.

"It was a wake-up call to tell myself not to stress, since then I've been pretty good with it all."

He said he managed shearing teams from a hospital bed before he was able to make a slow return to work, but he had the support of his team.

Mr Sorenson said a key to a well-run shearing business included the team dynamic.

"Attitude [is the most important thing], you can have one negative person on a team and the rest positive and it goes like a dream, but if you have a few negative people it goes pear-shaped," he said.

"If you put the right people together it's good for the farmer and good for me and good for everyone, they run themselves."

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He said finding available workers for the peak season continued to be difficult, which was exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.

"I took over in 2019 and then COVID happened and there were a lot of farmers needing people that couldn't find people," he said.

"They had to rely on locals and we went from shearing 200,000 sheep to more than 400,000.

"A lot of [shearers] have young families where they don't want to go away for three months at a time and chase the work, so the hardest thing is trying to keep people in the industry,.

"I tell myself that I'm not the only one with this problem, the further you go inland the worse it gets, so I'm just grateful that we've got the business where it is."

But he said there were opportunities for travel, upskilling, and good money in shearing - with one of his shearers, Lachie Partridge, being a prime example.

Mr Partridge, 21, started shearing about 12 months ago and recently hit his personal best of 260 sheep in a day.

"My old man was a shearer, he was off a farm near Marnoo and did cocky farms in the district," he said.

"I started my [carpentry] apprenticeship after high school and wasn't treated too well, overworked and underpaid and my dad said 'why don't you go into shearing?'.

"The pay is triple or quadruple what I was getting paid, if you get consistent work and get with a good contractor you can make good money."

He said part of the job included ensuring worker safety in shearing sheds, which had started to include newer and safer facilities.

"I understand there's a shortage in every industry, and if you want to get the staff you need to provide the facilities," he said.

"If you compare it to a chippy for instance, the first thing that rocks up on a site is a toilet and a fence before you start cutting and that's the standard in the carpentry industry, so why can't it be a standard across the board?"

Mr Sorenson said he would regularly check shearing sheds before taking on jobs, and had seen "incredible" upgrades to the region's sheds in recent years.

"If the sheds aren't up to scratch, they're the ones that are going to miss out," he said.

"If there's a new job that pops up I'll come for a ride and check it out, I don't expect them to put up a new shed overnight but I go through lighting, the floor, just simple things that could be replaced.

"Up-to-date shearing gear is one thing I've been pushing for, people need to change over."

The newer shearing plants include safety cut-out features that meant it would automatically stop the machine when lock ups happen.

Mr Partridge said he loved the industry since joining and encouraged more young people to get involved.

"You need a good, supportive environment because it's a battle at the start," he said.

"You can instantly get a pay rise because you can pick up new tips and shear five more sheep a run, 20 more sheep a day and instantly earn more money.

"With the cost of living and everything going up, it's hard for young people to make good money and I've got a young son, we built a house, I'm glad I've had that opportunity and you get rewarded for the work you do."