A fresh take on traditional livestock handling equipment

From publishing their own newspaper to applying learnings from the leading industry innovators, Henty Machine of the Year award winners Flinn Design have a fresh take on traditional livestock handling equipment.

Based at The Rock, in southern NSW, Flinn Design are shearing shed and stock yard design specialists, and won the coveted award at Henty for their newly launched Ram-to-Ewe automated catching pen.

Flinn Design principal Simon Flinn said catching pens had remained largely unchanged over the past century. 

As farmers, Simon and business partner Bob Thornely understand how difficult it is to obtain shearers, and to ensure they remain fit, injury free and efficient. 

Mr Flinn paid tribute to farmers David and Jenny Thompson who agreed to test the first Ram-to-Ewe on their Illabo property.

“Innovation is only as good as the uptake and the uptake these days is sadly dictated by money – we all have limited budgets and labour, so we have attempted to base our whole business structure on innovative ideas,” Mr Flinn said. 

“Before the first World War, 90 per cent of the patents were made by individuals. We are currently back to a low of 10 per cent just due to the corporate nature of agriculture. 

“All the innovation we have here today is simple and basic like the Commens Catcher slide bolt, which can be retrofitted into any existing shed and on any current manufacturer’s gate.

“A screw over a nail has been around for 3000 years – use a screw in your grating as it will last longer. Innovation doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does have to be able to be uptaken at minimal cost.”

Mr Flinn said a Ram-to-Ewe could be retrofitted into a shed for $5000-$8000 compared to $30,000-$40,000 for a new pen.

“It’s a no brainer and I’m excited,” he said. 

“Retrofitting something like this in your shed can change the world hence why we spent years developing it.”

The Ram-to-Ewe comes in two versions – Instinct is a computerised version which regulates the speed and distance the gate moves over the run; and Manual, where the shearer controls the back gate with the push of a button. It is fully pneumatic with no need for any power. 

Also partnering Mr Flinn and Mr Thornely in the business are farmers Jack and Toby Commens.

Flinn Design has also taken initiative with different marketing ideas and prints their own 10-page newspaper, The Flinn Times.

“We don’t do catalogues because we are a custom design company, we find having a catalogue inhibits innovation and organic growth of any design, whether it is a shearing shed or a sheep yard,” Mr Flinn said. 

“We have printed our own newspaper – we have done a run of 5000 copies for Henty – and it is a general guide to help farmers going through the process of designing their shearing shed, sheep yards, building pads, and cattle yards.

“There are a few jokes as we like things to be entertaining but we are very serious about custom sheep yards and shearing shed design.”

As co-designer, Bob Thornely said not only was it a Henty debut for the Ram-to-Ewe but also for the business.

“The Manual version has had fantastic feedback from growers and shearers just in how much pressure they feel and the efficiencies it creates from a shearing point of view,” Mr Thornely said.

“If someone is shearing 100 sheep a day at 100kg each, they are dragging 10 tonnes across the board. The efficiency and quality of their work come the end of the week this is creating has been real positive feedback.

“The Ram-to-Ewe has increased crutching times by up to 25 per cent, resulting in less labour costs on the producer.”

Mr Thornely was keen to seek the feedback from the public at Henty after the design’s big win.

“This award is pretty cool; the actual system is so simple, and it was exciting to be up against other competitors to take it out. We really believe in it and backed ourselves.

“If you are in any job, you can get a bit stagnant and blindsided, but we visit innovative businesses to see how everyone approaches things differently and bring those learnings back to apply to our business.

“All of our products are manufactured in Wagga as we support local businesses.”