Shearing brothers Jim and Lou Brown, from Napier, and their Australia-born cousin Imran Sullivan have comfortably broken the world three-stand merino lamb shearing eight-hour record in West Australia.

The trio shore 1603 of the fine wooled lambs on Saturday at North Stirling Downs, near Cranbrook, 320km south of Perth.

The previous record of 1208, shorn in South Africa more than 20 years ago, was out of the way a minute into the last of the four two-hour runs.

Hitting their best in the afternoon, Lou Brown (135, 133, 144, 143) and Sullivan (135, 137, 141, 142) each finished with 555, averaging just under 52 seconds a lamb, caught, shorn and despatched. Jim Brown shore 493 (133, 126, 120, 114).

It’s the second record for 34-year-old Lou Brown, who moved to Australia when he was 17 and who shore a world-best eight-hour merino ewes record of 497 in West Australia in April 2019.