Third-gen farmers use third-gen shearing team

This month, Peter Lee and son Brian marked a golden milestone - half a century with their shearing team.

The Lees first moved to Kulkami from Kapunda on March 7, 1950.

Peter said it was a very rough property back then, with only 20 hectares they could "get a combine through".

The family got up to running 3000 sheep plus lambs, but have since cut back to a manageable 2000 head on the 3363ha property to avoid the damage caused by dry seasons.

Brian said he would always remember the 2002 drought, as the property turned into a beach of sand drift.

He has also been part of the progression from breeding the old wrinkly style Merino with "corrugated iron" 23-micron wool, to the plainer body 20M Poll Merino rams they buy today, from local stud Ridgway or Narcoota at Eudunda.

"We now aim to breed a simple plain line sheep that produces a lot of good wool," he said.

They also crop wheat, barley, hay oats and rye on their hills.

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Peter said his parents Syd and Nita Lee first hired their shearing neighbour Ron Wooldridge in 1972, who often had his brother Les helping.

When their shearing team first began working there, it ran off two electric plants, which Peter had bought to replace the old kerosene "putt putt" engines they used in the original shearing shed.

"In 1968, I went up to Loxton to buy pigs and finished up coming home with two electric shearing plants," he said.

They built their new shearing shed in 1982, which is still used today.

In 1986, Ron Wooldridge's son-in-law Andrew Dyer began his shearing career in the Lee family shearing shed at 17-years old.

He now runs the business with wool-classing wife Katrina as Dyer Shearing Contractors, Lameroo.

Andrew said they had six shearers on the books when he started, but that figure then grew to 15 shearers plus shed staff when he took over, with even more family members getting involved.

Their daughter Amy Dyer also works full-time in the business as a wool classer.

"I went to university for six months and didn't like it, so I came home," she said.

Peter says it has been interesting to watch the progression in shearing sheds throughout the years, not just in the sheep but the increasing female presence.

"I can remember back in the mid-60s talk of women working in the sheds - it was the equivalent of sending them to jail!" he said.

But Amy says the industry has "changed a lot", with the male-dominated stereotype not as prevalent these days.

"When I went through my wool classing course, it was all females," she said.

"Plus there are a lot more female shearers these days too.

"I also do some shearing and sheep work - I like being able to jump in to help where I can, but I prefer the wool classing side of it."

Andrew says they have 10 shearers at the moment, plus eight shed staff, covering mainly the southern Mallee and Upper South East.

He said finding labour had been an issue through the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It has been our busiest times these past three years, with no extra help floating around," he said.

"We now try to employ SA workers to not come up short again.

"We are lucky to have a crew that come up from Naracoorte in their off-season. Then we go down there in our quiet times.

"We would normally have two break times throughout the year, but sometimes we have had to work through them as well.

"We're always being asked to take on new clients, but it's rare if we have the time.

"We need to keep on schedule where we can, as we shear a lot of sale sheep."

Andrew said shearing schools held across the state had also been pivotal in attracting new workers.

"If anything, we need more of it, certainly saves time when new staff are already half trained," he said.