Bulk handler saves back pain

After damaging his back a year and a half ago, he found general sheep husbandry to be a constant struggle.

Running a flock of 1000 composite breed ewes that had immense strength, Steve enlisted the help of his neighbours Allan Cunningham and his son Brodie to lend a hand.

That was until he came across the Proway sheep bulk handler.

By chance, he had picked up an eastern states paper and came across an article on the New South Wales livestock equipment company Proway's newest product, the sheep bulk handler.

There was a link to a YouTube clip demonstrating how the handler worked, which sealed the deal for Steve, who got on the phone straight away to find out if they would deliver the first one in WA.

"I just think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread," Steve said.

"It takes all the hard work out of sheep work, especially with strong crossbred sheep.

"When I damaged my back last year it made all the difference."

The system was designed to take the physical strain out of handling sheep while also requiring less labour as it can be easily operated by one person.

It worked by ushering 20 to 30 sheep, depending on size, into the bulk handler to effectively drench, vaccinate, capsule, back-line, jet and tag without having to wrestle the sheep first.

The reason Steve believed the handler worked so well was the dividing bars, held by flexible chains, which were hydraulically lifted to bring the sheep to waist height of the operator.

"The sheep have no choice but to passively sit there because they can't move or duck their heads," he said.

"They are in the ideal position to be able to tag them or drench them or whatever you need to do with total accuracy.

"Just the other day I had to take a blood sample out of a ram's ear and that's usually a big fight.

"But with the handler there just wasn't that wrestle."

He believed the system had taken sheep work to the next level, appealing to an aging farming population that was struggling to cope with the physical demands of sheep husbandry.

But it was also an innovation that took the hard work out of sheep work for the young generation of farmers looking to streamline their practices to become more efficient.

"Ninety per cent of your work is not drenching or ear tagging, it's fighting with the sheep," Steve said.

"By the end of the day you're stuffed and these days employees don't want to do the hard work.

"Innovations such as this make people more productive, it's more efficient, it streamlines the process and essentially turns it into a pleasant job."

Handling and filling times were quick and easy, enabling minimal operator fatigue and reducing the need for physical strength.

This was a huge bonus according to Steve, as it also meant more women could easily carry out sheep husbandry jobs and fill the employment gap, as the labour shortages in the farming sector became more obvious over the last decade.

The bulk handler also had the added benefit of separating the operator from chemicals with the metal-sheeted sides, while still allowing access to all the sheep.

Remaining actively involved in the sheep aspect of his business was a huge benefit for Steve, who was also keenly interested in developing the most commercially viable composite meat sheep possible.

The composite consisted of five breeds, namely White Dorper, Poll Dorset, White Suffolk, Texel and Coolalees which he considered to be the five best meat breeds suited to Australian conditions.

Steve breeds his own Dorpalee rams, as he refers to them, on his 500 hectare Pingelly property which had previously been a prominent hub for breeding yabbies suitable for export.

But over the last decade, sheep had become his main priority and with the help of neighbours Allan and Brodie and the sheep bulk handler, he has been able to continue his focus on breeding commercially viable sheep.

"The next step for me is to see if we can put lambs in there," Steve said.

"It's made all the difference for me and what I do and I'm learning new ways of using it all the time."