A Barcaldine family operation is building an innovative crutching and shearing trailer that will service outback Queensland and create up to eight jobs.
Ross Shearing’s new state-of-the-art trailer will include the latest workplace safety and animal welfare features, delivering sheep directly to shearers and eliminating the catch-and-drag from the pen.
The family operation will provide the mobile shearing and crutching services to wool growers throughout outback Queensland including Barcaldine, Longreach, Hughenden, Quilpie and Cunnamulla.
The trailer will also be used to educate and train the next generation about wool shearing and crutching.
The innovative trailer is expected to be up-and-running by mid-next year and will create up to eight direct, full-time jobs.
“We’re building the shearing and crutching trailer because there are a number of crutching trailers out there but not a lot with a dual purpose of both crutching and shearing,“ said Ross Shearing co-owner Simone Pix.
“The trailer will be equipped with safety features that take out the catch-and-drag element that contribute to injuries, improving the safety for shearers, crutchers and livestock.
“We will also use the trailer to give shearing and crutching demonstrations and training to local schools in the area with the aim to attract more young people in the sheep and wool industry.“
Ms Pix said the project would create a range of jobs including shearers, crutchers, wool handlers and a mobile cook once the trailer was operating.
She said the Rural Economic Development grant had been a “significant help“ in launching the project.
“It has allowed us to create a dual-purpose shearing and crutching trailer that will service a growing need in western Queensland, while creating new jobs and training opportunities in the sheep and wool industry.”
Ross Shearing is one of 24 businesses approved for the fifth round of the competitive RED grants program, with a total funding of $3.9 million.
Grants are available for up to $200,000, with a 50 per cent cash contribution required from applicants to fund projects, which generate economic and employment opportunities related to primary production value chains across rural and remote Queensland.
A sixth round of RED Grants, supporting Indigenous-owned agribusinesses and projects aimed at low-emissions agriculture, has been allocated for the 2023-24 financial year, with applications to open later this year.
For more information about the RED Grant scheme visit qrida.qld.gov.au/program/rural-economic-development-grants
Fact box
* Barcaldine sheep shearing and crutching operation Ross Shearing is one of 24 successful businesses to receive a Rural Economic Development (RED) grant.
* The central west Queensland enterprise will use the grant to build a state-of-the-art shearing and crutching trailer, which will create up to eight local jobs.
* Overall, the fifth round of the program has provided $3.9 million in funding and is expected to create up to 215 direct, long-term jobs.
