Our Story
From the board to the record books
A Hunterville gang built on great team work.
Ratima Shearing is a Hunterville-based gang led by Shane Rātima, who has been shearing since the late 1980s and took over the gang in 2004. We work the sheds of the central and lower North Island, from the Turakina Valley to Waverley, and we turn up to do one thing properly: get the wool off, cleanly and fast, with respect for your stock and your shed.
We are big on people. Loyalty runs deep here, from long-serving hands who have been with the gang for years to the young guns hitting their first 400s and 500s. We mentor newcomers, we back our team, and we believe a good gang is a tidy gang that leaves your shed better than it found it. That is the standard we hold ourselves to in every shed, every day.
Mainshear milestones
- Will Bevan315
- Marshall Buckman334
- Maliek Mullins402
It starts across the ditch
Shane Rātima picks up a handpiece and begins shearing, cutting his teeth in the Australian sheds.
Taking the reins
Shane takes over the gang and builds Ratima Shearing into a name trusted across the central and lower North Island.
Growing the next generation
Brenna Rātima wins Novice Woolhandling at the Apiti Show, proof the gang is raising talent on and off the board.
Into the record books
Shane lines up in a three-stand team at Moa Flat, West Otago, that shears 2,073 to break the strong wool lamb record by 97.
1989
Shearing since
2004
Gang taken over
512
Biggest lamb tally
100%
NZSCA accredited
