John Herlihy is the father and manager of Paul, Mark, Craig, Tim, Dean and Michael who will be hoping to set a new world shearing record in January.

These six brothers are aiming to shear 3,000 lambs in just eight hours to set a new world record.

It means Paul, Mark, Craig, Tim, Dean and Michael Herlihy will have to shear a sheep every 50 seconds when they head to Paparatu Station at Manutuke in Gisborne on January 26 if they are to set the first world record for the "six lamb stand".

The six brothers will have eight hours to shear as many lambs as possible and father and manager John Herlihy said the goal for the day was 3000 lambs, 90 more than the five-stand record.

"They would have to do about 500 each for the day, which means a sheep every 50 seconds," he said.

"That includes having to catch the sheep as well."

"They have to be shorn to a certain standard as well because they are going for the world record."

"Essentially you're racing the clock all day."

"Each of the boys will have a timekeeper who will time each sheep and them on track for the record."

John Herlihy ran a shearing gang in Inglewood for 20 years before moving to Whangamomona 23 years ago and said all of his boys got into shearing through his business.

"Most of them start off dagging and then move up into shearing," he said.

"They are all capable of doing 500 a day but because they all don't shear full-time anymore the record could be up for grabs in the near future."

"It will be a bit different from day-to-day shearing because the best 3000 lambs of 17,000 will be chosen for the competition, only the cream of the crop so to speak."

Three other shearing records will also be sought around the country, including a bid from Stacey Te Huia who will be attempting to beat a solo record of 721 ewes in nine hours.