BBCWhat makes a dream job? The chance to travel the world? A workplace in the great outdoors as opposed to a stuffy office? Honing a skill to a competition-worthy level?
Sounds pretty good – which is why County Donegal man Aaron Magee has no regrets for swapping his pharmaceutical degree to become a globetrotting sheep shearer for hire.
Now, he relishes life on the road – from Ireland to Scotland, to the mountains of Europe, the pastures of New Zealand and the Australian outback – with his shearing ability providing a reliable source of income from across the world every year.
“You could shear a sheep every day of the year if you wanted to, and chase the seasons,” he said.
LucymooshIt’s an unusual career move and one that fewer and fewer people are making – but it was driven by necessity.
Aaron left the University of Limerick with a degree in Pharmaceutical and Industrial Chemistry during the Covid-19 pandemic and struggled to find a job.
Luckily, he had a skill to fall back on having been taught the trade by his father on the family farm in Raphoe, County Donegal. And a new career path formed.
He said it was “the lifestyle of the shearing that attracted it to me” even if he admits he didn’t think he’d still be shearing five years later.
“I’m only 26 and I’ve been shearing in Liechtenstein, I never even knew that was a country until I saw Ireland playing them in football.
“It’s the traveling for me and meeting people.”
And when Aaron wants a break from the grind of shearing flocks, he usually takes “a holiday” attending and entering competitions in both hemispheres, including the Balmoral Show, the Royal Highland Show and Clonmany Show.
It’s not all globetrotting and going for gold, of course.
“It’s work hard, play hard,” says Aaron.
“Shearing’s quite social too. But, obviously, then there’s days when a farmer could have 300 or 400 sheep and you just have to put the head down.
“Your back gets sore some nights but you go through the rough days and look forward to the handy days.”
How much does sheep shearing pay?
Aaron MageeAnd then there’s the travel.
A typical shearing circuit for Aaron could see him in Northern Ireland and the Republic in May to June; then Scotland for the rest of the summer before heading to Norway from September to November – a country he visits so regularly he now says he’s “fairly fluent” in the language.
It’s then that he’ll get on a plane for Australia and New Zealand, in time for the southern hemisphere summer, and stay there until February, before spending March and April in the likes of Norway, Switzerland and Austria.
That’s a lot of air miles – and cost, which Aaron said has increased since he decided to chase the sheep shearing seasons across the globe.
But while the industry may not offer the same financial security as a job in the pharmaceutical industry, there’s still money to be made.
“We get paid by the sheep, the more sheep you can do the more you get paid.
“In Ireland, if you’re getting €2 per sheep, it doesn’t sound like a lot – but if you can do 200-300 a day you can make great money each day.”
Aaron believes the Covid lockdown and Brexit travel arrangements have inadvertently helped him build contacts and pick up shearing work across Europe at the expense of his shearing colleagues from the UK.
“It’s gave us more job opportunities…definitely the visa thing has been a bit of a struggle for them guys.”
Hip pain, hernias and life on the road
LucymooshStill, while travelling is a perk, a career on the road – and the physical demands of sheep shearing – has taken its toll.
“I’m not sure how many years I have left shearing full-time, I’ll have to see how my body holds up.
“I started probably a little bit young at fourteen. I had a hernia operation last year and my hips give me a little bit of bother. I’m lucky my backs strong as an ox.”
The physical toll is partly why not a lot of people make the same career choice Aaron did.
Jayne Harkness-Bones, from the Ulster Wool Depot, which collects wool from farmers and sells it on their behalf, told BBC News NI that “each year fewer and fewer people are making a real go of it”.
“Your family needs to support your decision,” she added.
Aaron said he’s “just taking every day as it comes” with the shearing, but in the meantime, he plans to skip his return trip to Norway and head straight back to New Zealand as soon as possible.
“The World Championships is on next March and I’d like to try to be down and get a bit of practise and see how we get on in that competition.”
Long-term, he’d like to settle in New Zealand but keep the hills of Donegal not too far in the horizon.
“I’d love to keep coming home and doing a little bit in Ireland and Scotland during the summer months.”
It may be tough work but, for now, Aaron’s sticking with his career philosophy: have shears, will travel.