UPSP ready for the farm
A lighter, more mobile and more affordable ShearEzy is now on the market
It is technology that once seemed a long way from on-farm application, but the Upright Posture Shearing Platform (UPSP) is now available for the woolgrower and shearing contractor. A more productive and cost-effective model of the much-talked-about UPSP – the ShearEzy from Peak Hill Industries – is on the market.
Joe Sullivan, AWI’s wool-harvesting program manager, says the latest model has overcome earlier shortcomings and will be a revelation, particularly to growers.
Most importantly, Peak Hill Industries says the retail price for a ShearEzy UPSP unit has been greatly reduced, to about $15,000, and Mr Sullivan believes that at that price, the technology is accessible to many. “It is really suited to growers who may want to shear their own sheep, or who may want to share a platform among several properties, or those who are not keen to update or build a new shed, but still have sheep to shear.”
Peak Hill Industries’ Bill Byrne says the new model has undergone a massive reduction in size and weight. “Now clocking in at about 250 kilograms, the ShearEzy unit can be transported on a box trailer or tray-top ute,” he says. “It may be operated on a purpose-built trailer, set up in the open, or moved into any shearing, multi-purpose or machinery shed.” The technology is now powered by an eight to 10-cubic-feet per minute air compressor and 240-volt electricity, and the smaller size means the company is developing the capacity to link a number of the platforms together.
ShearEzy consists of a shearing platform with an integrated parallel sheep-loader. Mr Byrne says sheep walk into the loader via an inclined ramp and are held until ready to be shorn. The loader clamps the sheep, tilts towards the platform and then releases the sheep. The rear legs are restrained while the sheep lies on the hinged-up wings of the platform. The shearer is able to mechanically manipulate the sheep to each position through the shearing process. Fleeces fall onto the electrically driven conveyor belt, directly under the sheep, and are transferred intact to a knee-height tray at the rear of the machine for easy pick-up by the wool handler.
Awareness of occupational health and safety issues is a driver of the development, Mr Sullivan says. “The fact is that most shearing injuries come from the ‘catch-and-drag’ part of the process, and the UPSP overcomes this. Likewise, it eliminates the need for bending down, and reduces the physical effort required.”
AWI has made a substantial investment in the UPSP program over the past three years, funding the development and testing of six designs. The Peak Hill ShearEzy was the first of these to be made commercially available late last year. It has taken perseverance, but Bill Byrne is happy with the latest development.
“Earlier we’d gone down the track of totally computerised shearing, but that didn’t work – we still needed some human control,” he says.
“It’s taken a lot of fine-tuning, but I think it’s simple and easy.”
For the shearing contractor, particularly with large and difficult-to-shear sheep, Peak Hill Industries is assembling a mobile multi-stand ShearEzy that can be operated in a trailer, utility or shearing shed.
More information: www.wool.com.au/shearezy, www.peakhillindustries.com.au
Image: Bill Byrne with the new ShearEzy.
Return to Beyond the Bale Issue 29 index page.