New shearing shed ticks all the boxes

It took several years of planning and construction, but last month the first sheep of the Kulin farmer's flock were shorn on the custom-built, five-stand raised board.

"I've been waiting for this day for years," Mr Robertson said.

"I had ideas of either giving our 40-year-old shed a facelift or building a new one for a while.

"However it all came down to funds and we had come off a couple of bad seasons.

"I said once we had a good harvest I'd lock it in, I got one under my belt and here we are."

Standing an impressive seven metres tall, 18m wide and 30m long, the shed was designed to make life easier for the sheep, shearers and roustabouts working in it.

And it has certainly done that, with sloped catching pens from the holding yard down to the shearer and 13 shutters fitted on three sides for ventilation, particularly in the summer months.

The shed itself was built by Albany Garages and Sheds in October 2022.

A year later, ProWay Livestock Equipment started the fit-out, using the sawtooth design, and finished the job in early February - just in time for Mr Robertson's 12-monthly shear.

As part of the sawtooth design each shearer is given a separate working area including a large shelf for the tools.

"I wanted a design that helped stock to flow through the shed and the sawtooth board has been a real winner - it works really well," Mr Robertson said.

"On the straight board in the old shed, shearers would have to come out the door and turn to shape up to the stand.

"Whereas now, they are dragging the sheep straight from the catching pen to the stand.

"With the in-and-out sawtooth board design, rousies also have full access around the individual work platform and don't need to bend over to ground level to reach a fleece."

Mr Robertson said he respected shearers for the work they do in doing a physically demanding and labour intensive job.

He also acknowledged how difficult it was for shearing contractors to find workers and for woolgrowers to get a good shearing team in.

"We need them as much as they need us as an industry, so if there are things we can do to make it easier for them and ensure that we are at the top of every shearing team's list, why not?," he said.

"What I have spent building this shed is less than what we would spend every five years on a new header and it will last me throughout my time."

Tiwai McRoberts, who owns T&K Shearing with Kirsty Lynch, has been involved in shearing at Mr Robertson's property for about five years.

However, this year was the first time he had done so under his own business name and in the new shed.

Keeping this in mind, as well as his experience in servicing areas from Boddington to Esperance and shearing anywhere from 2000 to 20,000-head at each farm, Mr McRoberts would know better than anyone the difference improved working conditions can make.

So far he has given Mr Robertson's efforts a big thumbs up.

"We were sitting around on the first night after shearing and everyone was commenting on how wicked Jay's shed was," he said.

"It is a bloody good shed.

"What I like most is that every shearer has their own space or station and the drag is unreal.

"You're coming straight out from the pen to the stand with the sheep and you aren't twisting.

"Also the ventilation with the higher shed is unbelievable because it allows heat to reach further to the top."

Mr McRoberts said both the sloped catching pens and raised boards had made a massive difference for shearers and roustabouts.

In ProWay's sawtooth layouts, pens fill at a 45 degree angle - this improves the flow of the sheep and means animals aren't entering toward the catching pen doors.

"I find that sheep turn over easier in the sloped pens and with the raised boards roustabouts aren't having to bend over as far," he said.

"You get the odd shearer who doesn't like sloped pens because they like to stretch, but I find that dropping them (with the three to four degree drop) and picking them up is much easier.

"Where it is all situated allows for good movement.

"Another standout for me is the down chute, which lets sheep out into the yard."

As part of the sawtooth design, chutes are recessed into the board and send sheep under the grating into individual count out pens.

Chutes are 600 millimetres wide, providing plenty of room for rams and larger sheep.

Mr Robertson said the design had chutes jutting out onto the shearing board, so once the shearer finished shearing the sheep was leaning towards the chute.

"Its front feet are in the chute ready to go," he said.

"It seems to save fighting the sheep down the chute.

"Separately, the sheep seem to run a lot better into the shed and flow well throughout pens in the shed.

"In the old shed you would just about have to carry every sheep onto the grating.

"Whereas now they seem to be moving really well."

Mr Robertson runs a 7000 hectare mixed farming enterprise with 60:40 cropping and sheep, comprising 4000ha of mainly wheat, barley and some canola and lupins, as well as Merino and South African Meat Merino (SAMM)-Dorpers.

The majority of his flock, or about 60pc, is Merinos, while the remainder is first cross SAMM ewes, which are joined with Dorpers for processing.

Sheep are separated into 15-16 mobs of 300-head and are run in 80-120 hectare paddocks.

"I have a fair whack of sheep, but I don't run them hard during the year," Mr Robertson said.

"Running them in smaller mobs keeps them in better condition and gives them a chance to grow.

"It also gives me a few paddocks to rotate throughout the year."

While wool is his main sheep entity, meat also plays a big part in his enterprise.

This season 7500-head were shorn by T&K Shearing over about 10 days, with an average of 750-800 per day.

Mr Robertson said the new shed hadn't made a difference in terms of bigger numbers being shorn, but it did make the conditions as comfortable as can be.

He said a string of three good seasons showed in the quality of wool produced and also in lambing percentages.

"We sit at around 21-21.5 micron and the sheep are probably cutting about 12 kilograms," Mr Robertson said.

"Meanwhile, the staple length is around 110mm, so there is a fairly good length on it."

Mr Robertson added, "over the past few years we have had really good lambing seasons".

"It is a good thing, but at the same time you still have to feed them and turn them off when you need to," he said.

Once shorn the plan was to send wether lambs into the abattoirs to reduce pressure feed wise.

Mr Robertson said sheep were run off the paddock, so once they were turned off there were less mouths to feed.

"This time of year things get pretty fragile," he said.

"The quicker you get rid of them, the sooner you can focus on your ewes before heading into the next lambing season.

"Lambing for the crossbreds starts in April and then the Merinos don't lamb until the end of May.

"You get the crossies on the ground before seeding and the Merinos after seeding and then you don't have to worry about anything during."

Seeding is set to start in the middle of next month, with average rainfall sitting at about 350mm.

Mr Robertson said this figure did drop back to 300mm, but the past three years had been the best he had experienced.

"I don't want to jinx it, but we haven't had much summer rain over the past few years," he said.

"There were five years in a row where we were recording all of our rainfall in the summer and none in the normal season.

"Whereas the past few years we've had no summer rain and have gone back to having those March-April opening rains like we used to."