Naracoorte engineering firm Haynes Engineering is chalking up a big tally of shearing modules it has manufactured with the race-delivery system.
Over the past two years about 100 of their modules, which eliminate the backbreaking dragging of sheep from the catching pen to the board, have gone out into the industry.
Demand continues to grow with Chris and Jane Haynes fielding about 10 new enquiries each week from across Australia for the design which have been developed with Australian Wool Innovation and the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia.
The sheep is delivered up a race into a pen close to where it will be shorn. When the shearer is ready for their next sheep they pull the spring loaded gate open and can easily move the sheep into place on the board.
Mr Haynes says most of their units have been bought by NSW and Vic producers and even a few to WA and Tas. The 3.3 metre long x 2.4m modules with a raised board easily fits on a truck.
Adoption has been slower in SA but they have recently sent modules to Kangaroo Island and the Barossa.
They have orders for another 20 which they are working hard to fill, setting up a second workshop specifically for the modules.
"They take about a week each to build so we are about 20 weeks behind but we try and work in with where people are and when they need them," he said.
Mr Haynes says the biggest challenge for their family owned business is finding enough welders for their work but their 12 employees are the best they have ever had.
"I have always said to the boys the difference between a bad and a good job is about 10 per cent at the end of it, it may take a bit longer but we would rather that," he said.
Mrs Haynes says they would like to be in a position where they have two or three modules on hand and add to the one they have available for hire.
Haynes Engineering has been involved in the project from the development of the prototype and is one of six firms across Australia endorsed by AWI to make the modules.
Mr Haynes - whose father was a shearer and welder - says woolgrowers are recognising the need to improve their facilities to attract shearers.
"If you have an old pioneer shed which a lot of them still are and a new shed with these (the modules) in them where they are getting an extra 7 to 15 per run and feeling a lot better at the end of the day they are going to go to the newer shed every time," he said.
"Look how far farmers have come with tractors and seeders but the shearing side has been left behind with nothing much changing since wide combs- it is still a back breaking job."
He sees it as critical to eliminate the "catch and drag" movement for shearers, which makes up about 70 per cent of shearing related injuries.
"If you are working in any store you can't lift anything heavier than 20 kilograms so why are we asking shearers to drag 90kg or 110kg composite ewes out of a pen?" he said.
Many farmers looking to upgrade their sheds are doing the sums and deciding to buy a few of their shearing modules and join them together and put them in a general purpose shed.
Mr Haynes says all that is required is a concrete pad and a set of portable yards.
"You might use them (the modules) for two weeks a year or a month and then you can pack them away and utilise the shed for your tractors or seeders," he said.
"If you have multiple properties you can move them from property to property or you could even look at sharing them with a neighbour."
The units are made from SA timber and all Australian steel supplied by Infrabuild with the electrical work also completed locally by Sinclair Electrical Solutions.
They may have perfected the manual design but Mr Haynes is not yet confident in the pneumatic version which automatically moves the pen and tips the sheep into shearing position.
"There is a lot of interest but it needs some more investment from AWI, SCAA and farming groups to tweak it," he said.
AWI project coordinator industry development Tom Hersee says the modular system has shown that shearing does not need to be done in a conventional shearing shed but could instead be on the back of a trailer or even in a hay shed with the modules.
He says the race delivery system is a great way of reducing potential injuries associated with the 'catch and drag' of sheep and increase the productivity of the shearer and ensuring they have the ability to continue shearing for as long as they can
"It offers those growers in mixed farming enterprises, those with outdated infrastructure, and those wishing to upgrade or expand their infrastructure an affordable, productive and viable wool harvesting method," he said.
Constant industry interest has extended to AWI working with growers to retrofit race delivery system into existing sheds.
