Sophie Watson left the shed after three years as a professional shearer

The 24-year-old was once one of the only professional female shearers in the north west region, before injury and health issues caused her to take a step back from the shed and behind the bar.

"My bones have grown in wrong and through that I suffer from excruciating pain all the time," Miss Watson said.

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"I had a shoulder reconstruction and after that I decided to get out and thought I couldn't do it anymore. It's a shame because it's a fun industry to be in, but the toll it took on my health wasn't worth the pain."

The Kentucky native was surrounded by wool from a young age. Her dad is a well established shearer.

"One of my earliest memories is when my dad ran a contracting business with my mum and we used to be in the shed stomping in the wool as tiny little babies," she said.

"When we could walk and talk we would be the shed all the time."

When she began to take an interest in the craft, she made her intentions to become a shearer abundantly clear.

"My dad had three daughters, so he wanted to treat us like we were sons," she said.

"He wanted to make sure we could handle ourselves. We'd be out in the paddock, we'd be out there feeding, out in the dirt. I'd be riding horses and we'd be out in the grunt of it to learn hard work.

"When my dad actually started to take an interested that I was enjoying sheep and wool classing, I would get up on the table and sit on the table and watch dad work."

After graduating high school she entered into the shearing industry full-time and knew the challenge ahead.

"It's such a male dominated industry and if you are a chick you are normally the cook, it's very old school," Miss Watson said.

"Because if you go out to a shed in the middle of nowhere you'd have to put like a chef on and that role is normally reserved for the female."

Despite the stereotypes she enjoyed the atmosphere of the shed and the work she did.

Miss Watson continues to work in the industry as a professional wool classer and wool handler, but she has not seen more women take up hand pieces.

"The only other female sheep shearers I know are in Victoria and most of them are from New Zealand," she said.

"I think it's a big pain thing too, because a lot of women don't either believe they can do it honestly, or don't think they can it.

"When you grow up all the men were shearing and the girls were wool classing, so you grow up believing it's a male job.

"I'm sure it's getting better now, but not in the New England area. I only knew one other female shearer and now she is a masseur."

Aside from the shed being male-dominated and the toll the job takes on physical health, Miss Watson said the cost of equipment is high for those who want to enter the trade.

"The products you need are expensive. So unless you have a mate, dad or family figure who does it all the time, it's hard to break even. You'll be spending thousand of dollars a week and you may not even make that a week," she said.

"The money is there, but you really have to get into it before you start making money."

An ongoing shortage of shearers is heavily impacting the industry.

Miss Watson said training a new generation of female shearers could be part of the solution.

"It is such a great industry to be in, because you have your music and your community," she said.

"I'd love to see more women out there. But, the industry is not developed or advanced enough yet."

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