One of Australia's largest woolgrowers, Ian Shippen of Banyandah Pastoral Co in the Riverina of NSW, was thankful to use seven AWI modular sheep delivery units late last year when flooding stranded many thousands of his sheep.
Ian, Camilla, Will, Emma and James Shippen of Banyandah Pastoral Co run a huge self-replacing Merino operation across 105,000 hectares, the majority of which is situated at Moulamein in the Hay Plains of NSW.
The average annual rainfall there is 330mm but in November last year there was unprecedented flooding which stranded many of the Shippens' sheep and put half of their usual shearing sheds out of action. This was terrible timing, with the gigantic annual task of shearing 55,000 grown sheep and 40,000 lambs having only recently begun.
"It was a pretty difficult shearing this one! We were inundated with flood waters that probably only happen about once every 50 years in our country," Ian said.
"We usually shear in about four different sheds, but due to the flooding, we had to truck around 30,000-40,000 sheep. In the end, I rang AWI in desperation saying we had to do something."
Ian says that his dire situation was helped enormously when AWI organised for five modular sheep delivery units owned by AWI, and two more owned by Haynes Engineering, to be made available for him to use.
"AWI got some modular shearing units delivered to us at one of our places that wasn't too badly affected by floodwater. We turned an existing hay shed, sized about 30m x 18m, into a shearing shed with a set of yards in about three weeks. We cemented the floor and put in seven modular shearing units which worked really well."
The size of the existing hay shed meant that the seven modular units were configured into an 'L' shape, with a fabricator creating a corner to allow the sheep to flow. The Shippens have since shorn approximately 15-20,000 sheep through the system and have confirmed their intention to purchase the modular units from AWI and Haynes Engineering as they now have a fully operational shed at a fraction of the cost of other designs.
"I think the shed ran very well. We hadn't had a lot of time to think about how best to adapt the hay shed into a shearing shed and I'd maybe change a few little things, but conceptually it worked well. We were surprised how it took limited effort to get the sheep to flow up into the race and once in the race they ran well. I was very happy with it," Ian said.
"We had a crew of seven shearers doing about 900 sheep per day. The professional shearers that we had – those who see shearing as a career – they really warmed to the sheep delivery units; they thought it was a fantastic concept. They reckoned it was worth about five or six sheep per run better in their tallies. These are people doing about 35 a run so it was a pretty big increase in production.
"As an industry, we have to embrace innovations like the AWI sheep delivery system because it means less energy used by the shearers."- Ian Shippen, woolgrower
"The shearers also said they felt a lot better and less tired at the end of the week, so they really embraced it. I'm no spring chicken, I'm 57, and I picked up a handpiece a couple of times myself and did it easily. As an industry, we have to embrace innovations like the AWI sheep delivery system because it means less energy used by the shearers."
Ian says that although the flooding combined with the lack of shearers made their shearing a very drawn-out affair this time around, he is a true wool enthusiast who revels in watching his 21-micron Banyandah Pastoral wool clip be shorn and packed into more than 3,600 bales.
"We started shearing in October and it took until February to finish. But a big thank you to AWI this year because we were in all sorts of trouble at the beginning. It was a tough few months, but I am really positive about the future of wool. I think it's a fantastic product and am definitely going to stick with it."
