South Canterbury shearing gang operator Chris McCarthy used to drive from Ashburton to Blenheim and see nothing but corriedales; now it's cows or grapes.

"It doesn't take much math to work out that with half the number of sheep there were 50 years ago, there will be half the number of shearers."

Since he took over his uncle's contracting business 16 years ago he's struggled to find "good people" in the busy season, especially for shearing the merinos up-country where real expertise is required.

"Contractors are all after the same people," he says. "It's hard to keep shearers and shed hands, when there are options like dairying for young people to get into."

"If I get good people, and that includes shed-hands and pressers, I don't let them go. This includes the girls that do the merino-wool; they work very fast - they have to go at the shearers speed and this takes real skill. And all for $22- $24 per hour."

It's difficult for a young man starting out in the industry, McCarthy says. It can take three of four years to become a good shearer, and then there's a $10,000 outlay in cutters, combs and a couple of handpieces at $800 each. On the other hand they can choose to go into dairy, where the farmer provides wet weather gear, a house, power and phone.

"Shearing is very hard to learn today. Sheep are composites, twice the size they used to be and hard to hang on to for a learner. And they don't sit like they used to."

A lot of Kiwi shearers head for Australia, and end up staying where they can make better money, McCarthy says. Shearers from South Canterbury gravitate towards Hamilton, Victoria; North Island shearers go to Wagin, Western Australia.

"They are in demand over there; it's seen as a craft."

Jock Martin of Jock Martin Management agrees. After 30 years in the contract business, he is seeing fewer shearers, not only because sheep numbers have plummeted, but because farming practices have changed.

"We shear all round now because the North Island is doing their main shear right up until March and this overlaps with the South Island. Shearers are spread thin."

Martin runs his business from Lawrence and covers most of Otago and Southland. He shears them all - the traditional breeds, the composites, and the fine wool sheep. His shearers are a mix of Kiwis, Australians and Brits. The British shearers are mainly farmers' sons and they find New Zealand tough the first year, he says. Then they settle in really well.

"And this year we saw the number of sheep in North Canterbury halve because of the drought. Farmers were forced to sell off their capital stock."

Shearing training been tipped upside down since Pectra lost its contract, Martin says. Training is now done through Primary ITO.

"We run an accredited (to Primary ITO) training school. It used to be that the trainees were all from farms but now they are urban and second generation shearers.

Vanessa McAllister works at the "coal face" for Primary ITO, the national provider for training in the "wool harvesting" industry.

Training for shearing (and wool handling and pressing ) is done through shearing contractors who are endorsed and accredited as service providers for Primary ITO.

"A training agreement is drawn up between us, the trainee and the contractor, who must have robust systems in place," McAllister says.

At the end of training, the trainee will have an NZQA qualification, dependent on how long they have trained for. It can take 12 to 24 months to become a fully qualified shearer.

Jamie McConachie, president of the shearing contractors association, began shearing 20 years ago when he was 15 and just out of school. Back in the 70's and 80's farming was tough, he says, and shearing was one job he could secure.

There are less shearing businesses today, he says, and like any business, once it loses scale it loses a certain amount of viability.

"If you go back 30 years there were a lot of rural based open teams made up of farmer's sons who could make a living without having to travel more than 15 miles from home. Most sheep farms were on a smaller scale, maybe 1500-2000 ewes, but these farms have changed into dairy, especially anything on flat land."

The impact of dairy has been huge; not only have sheep farms transitioned; others have converted to dairy support.

"What you have now is more dedicated businesses servicing sheep farming on a large scale," McConachie says.

"Sheep have been forced back into the hills and the situation has allowed some progressive sheep businesses to grow. Some have also used dairy to progress by breaking in marginal land for sheep, particularly in Southland."

In New Zealand, 80 or 90 per cent of shearers and shedhands are Maori; they have always been prominent in the industry, but are more so now. There is also a dependency on overseas shearers; Australians, Brits, Europeans and Americans.

Sheep farms are scattered and gangs travel further these days, McConachie says; up to an hour and a half each way.

"The last decade has been particularly hard; we are down to 14 million sheep in the North Island and 16 million in the South Island. I'd like to think the sheep industry might get some stability, but who knows."