A Donegal native, who has traded his profession as a chemist for the sheep shearing trade, has claimed he can earn up to €700/day, traveling the world, while honing his expert skills.

Aaron Magee (26) from Raphoe, Co. Donegal, leads a nomadic life following the shearing seasons around the globe, having reportedly garnered quite the international reputation in the industry.

The globetrotter told Agriland, he typically spends every July and August in Scotland, September to November in Norway, the rest of the winter down under in New Zealand or Australia before returning to Norway for an additional spell of six weeks in February.

After he finishes his second stint in Norway, he then usually travels to Switzerland in April to shear sheep, before he concluding his working calendar to shear alongside his father in Ireland, during the months of May and June.

When he's not shearing, the Donegal man also runs Magee Shearing Equipment & Services alongside his father Mark, and brother Luke, repairing farm machinery and shearing equipment around the country.

According to Magee, he has chosen to spend most of the year in Norway, due to the lucrative rates to be gained in the country, which he accredits to the generous system of agricultural subsidies in place there.

"That's the great thing about shearing - because you get paid by the sheep, the better you get at it, the more sheep you can shear, the more money you can make. So there's a real good incentive to get better at it," Magee said.

According to Magee, Norway's agriculture sector benefits heavily from government grants, with €150 reported to be earned for every sheep owned, an average of €200 plus for every lamb carcass brought to a slaughterhouse, and around €5 for every kilo of wool.

Despite the generous allowances available for the sector, farming in Norway has its own unique set of challenges he says.

"However the Vikings thought of coming here is a mystery to me - it makes absolutely no sense. For instance, Norway winters are extremely cold, in the west of the country, it could reach -15C or -20C, and there wouldn't be any sunlight for weeks on end.

"Even nowadays, it doesn't get bright until about 10am and it gets dark again at about 2.00pm," he explained.

Magee, who has been shearing sheep since he was 14, has been working full time as a shearer since 2020, following his graduation from his degree in pharmacy at the University of Limerick, in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

"It's really hard to get a job here [in Norway] because there are not that many sheep and the money's pretty good so everybody wants the job. However, because of Covid, everybody was scared so they all went home and I said, 'Oh, screw this, I'm going to travel instead of staying put'.

"That's how I got one of my first jobs in Switzerland. That, and the fact that a lot of the other shearers were from the UK and because of Brexit, they all had to get visas to go and work in Europe while I didn't," he added.

For Magee, sheep shearing is not only his livelihood, it is also a sport in which he competes regularly at on both international and national stages.

He won fourth place at the World Shearing Championships at the Balmoral Show, in Scotland, in 2023, and he told Agriland of his current ambitions to qualify for the Irish team, which comprises of the top two shearers in the country every year.

The competitions also have a dual function for Magee, who said that they also serve as networking events where he sources new employment opportunities.

"That's the great thing about this particular line of work - there's no such thing as interviews. It's very much all word of mouth.

"I'm lucky now too as I've been to a few shows and have done quite well in some, so people have started to recognize the name - your reputation will always precede you in the shearing world," Magee added.

While Magee was forthcoming about the perks of the job, including the financial incentives to be earned, he was also very frank about the challenges he has faced.

He admits that it is not for the faint hearted and warned that he has encountered his fair share of setbacks.

"I'm only 26 and I've already had a hernia operation last year," he said.

According to Magee, an incident occurred while he was shearing sheep on a farm in New Zealand last year and this resulted in six months of recuperation off work, following the extensive surgery undertaken to repair the lining of his abdomen.

The young Donegal man also detailed the grueling nature of the job, describing long days spent covered in sweat and animal excrement, in often, remote parts of the world.

He also revealed to Agriland that, in the five years he has spent working in the trade, he has never taken a holiday, choosing to work seven days a week instead.

Magee said: "I left university in May 2020, and I haven't scheduled a day off yet.

It is also a very physical job and the extent to which it leaves a toll on the body can be hard to cope with.

"I went to university with qualified chemists, a lot of them have masters and PHDs, and they're in these fancy jobs, and I'm thinking they should be on serious dollars by now, but a lot of them are still living with their mom, they're kicking on 30 years old and they're all bloody half depressed.

"Then they chat to me, and every day I'm covered in sweat, wool and crap, and they think it's amazing," he said.

But Magee's hard work has paid off, he has had the chance to buy his own house, outright and as he pointed out, that is not something many other 25 year olds would be in the position to do in this day and age.

He eventually aspires to buy his own farm down the line too.

"With the way the world's going, I'd like to be able to fend for myself," Magee said.