A couple of Mintaro croppers have won several invention accolades at Hamilton's Sheepvention Rural Expo at the weekend but the duo were most pleased about taking out the Best Innovation award.
SheerSpeed's Steven and Roger Hein won the Robert F Stewart innovation award along with its $2000 prize money for their handpiece, which could significantly help improve safety in the shearing shed.
Harnessing a passion for the industry after shearing for more than 20 years, Steven wanted to improve safety and efficiency in the shearing shed by helping to create the Woolmaster Wireless Control handpiece and Counter.
The father and son duo began playing around with the idea about six years ago and have made 10 prototype handpieces, which are in the final stages of Australian safety certification.
The product is a standard handpiece with the addition of a On/Off switch and transmitter fitted, to provide the shearer with full control of the handpiece via a push button located at their thumb, rather than a traditional pull cord.
The transmitter in the handpiece talks to a receiver called a 'counter' which also has the ability to digitally record shearer tallies, as opposed to using a traditional counter.
The overhead shearing plant's 240 vault power is plugged into the counter, providing the handpiece with the ability to controls its own On/Off function.
The plant can still be turned off via the original pull cord, just in case the handpiece is kicked out of the shearers hand, according to Roger.
"One of the big safety benefits, especially for learner shearers, is maintaining control of the sheep. The shearer can turn the handpiece off and have two hands on the sheep within seconds, as opposed to taking their available hand off the sheep to turn the plant off," he said.
As first-time entrants into the awards, the duo appreciated the boost in confidence and hoped it could help raise the product's profile.
"This award has certainly provided extra backing to the product," Roger said.
"A lot of shearers believe it could be a gamechanger for crutching in particular, with up to 40 more sheep crutched a day.
"There is a lot of stopping and starting while shearing and it is easy to get out of position and not be able to reach the pull cord - it is generally on the wrong side when you finish."
The $2000 prize money will be put towards the continual development of further shearing products to benefit the industry.
Vanessa Binks
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
