Wideboard Shearing Co. Northam · Contracting since 2004 (08) 9000 0393 Book a team

Shearing contractor · Northam

Shearing and crutching teams through the wheatbelt — book the board, not just the shearers

Shearers, shed hands and a presser, out of Northam into the central and eastern wheatbelt. Put your numbers on the Board below and it counts the run out day by day before you pick up the phone.

The run as it stands

5 DAYS

2,000 HEAD AT $4.60 · LAST DAY 320

$9,200 — full shear on 3 stands, within 100 km of Northam

Ring the shed — (08) 9000 0393 Ask for a run date

Contracting since 2004 AWEX-registered classer available Pastoral Award 2020 rates

What a stand costs is the wrong question. We charge per head, award shape, whatever the shed. More stands finishes the run sooner — it doesn't make the sheep cheaper.

The Board

Shed plan · 3 stands

The shed drawn in plan with the run counted out beneath it A shearing shed seen from above. Catching pens run along the back wall, one behind each stand. The board is the dark jarrah strip across the middle with a shearer at each stand and a chute back out to the counting-out pens. The wool table and the press sit at the wool-room end, with pressed bales stacked beside them. Shorn sheep walk out along the counting-out race at the far end of the board. Beneath the shed a day strip counts the run out — one column for each day of shearing, filled in wool gold to that day's tally, with the last column part-filled to the honest remainder.

Run docket · estimate

$9,2005 days on 3 stands

2,000 head at $4.60 · last day 320

What the figure assumes

    The job what the team is in the shed to do — it sets the rate and the tally

    How many head your best count — we confirm it off the draft

    2,000Head

    400 head is our minimum engagement — under that it isn't worth pulling a team off another shed.

    Stands in your shed how many shearers can work at once — the board redraws

    More stands is a shorter run, not a cheaper one. The rate is per head, award shape, whatever the shed.

    How far out you are measured from Northam — keep and travel for the team

      Send this run through

      Estimate only, GST included. We confirm the tally off your draft and the shed off a look.

      Six things we get asked to price

      One rate a head. The shed hands, the presser and the grinder come with it.

      Rates include GST and cover the whole team — shearers, shed hands and a presser. What changes the number is the head count and how far the team has to travel, not how many stands you happen to have.

      From$4.60 a head

      Full shear

      The whole clip off, wool thrown, skirted and pressed. A stand does about 140 a day on a full shear, which is what the Board counts your days out on. Minimum engagement 400 head — from $1,840.

      From$1.40 a head

      Crutching

      Crutched and wigged before the flies find them, or before lambing. Three times the tally of a full shear — a stand does about 420 a day. Minimum engagement 400 head, from $560.

      Rate$5.15 a head

      Shear with an AWEX-registered classer

      $4.60 plus 55c a head for classing. The clip is classed to line at the table and the bales are branded as they come off the press, which is what the buyer is reading when your lot comes up.

      In the rateIncluded

      Shed hands and a presser

      We don't bill the board separately. Rousies to keep the wool moving, a presser on the bale, and someone who knows how to keep a grinder true. Teams run from four to twelve depending on the stands.

      Add$180 a day of the run

      Team keep beyond 100 km

      Between 100 and 250 km of Northam we add $180 for every day the team is on the job — beds, meals and the run out and back. It follows the days, so a shorter run on more stands costs less keep.

      Beyond 250 kmQuoted

      Out past the 250

      Esperance side, the Murchison, up past Mullewa — we'll do it, but we won't put a number on a drive we haven't costed. The per-head rate still holds; the travel and keep get quoted on the run.

      Lamb marking runs are booked by the day and priced on the mob — ring us with the numbers and the yards. Wet sheep are not shorn: if the mob comes in damp the team stands down and the day rolls, which is why we ask you to have them under cover the night before.

      Contracting since 2004Twenty-one seasons out of Northam, into the central and eastern wheatbelt. Most of our sheds we've done more than ten years running.

      Teams of four to twelveTwo stands or six, the team is sized to the board — shearers, rousies and a presser, so nobody in your family ends up throwing fleeces all week.

      AWEX-registered classer availableAustralian Wool Exchange registration, on the bigger clips or wherever the lines are worth drawing properly. Bales branded at the press.

      Pastoral Award 2020 rates and conditionsTeam paid to the award, with the shed conditions that go with it. It's in the per-head rate, not a line you find later.

      Workers' compensation and public liabilityCertificates of currency go out with the booking confirmation. Your shed, our people, our cover.

      ABN 00 000 000 393Member, Shearing Contractors Association of Australia. Tally sheets go to you at the end of every day, not at the end of the run.

      Demo reviews

      What growers say once the last bale is on the truck

      Written as demonstration copy for this build — Wideboard Shearing Co. is a fictional business and these are not real customers.

      "Two thousand through a three-stand shed in five days, exactly as they said on the phone in June. The last day was a short one and they told me that before we started rather than after. Tally sheet in my inbox every evening."

      Sheep and cropping, York · 2,000 head, full shear

      "First year we've had a classer on our own clip instead of hoping the lines held. The bales came off the press branded properly and the sale line was the best we've had. Worth the fifty-five cents and then some."

      Family farm, Corrigin · 8,000 head, shear with classer

      "Our regular bloke pulled out three weeks before we were due to start, in August, which is the worst month to be ringing around. Wideboard had a team in the shed on the Monday. No premium for the panic either."

      Mixed enterprise, Wongan Hills · 4,400 head, crutching and full shear

      Where the truck goes

      Northam in the middle, and two rings that decide the keep

      Inside 100 km the team drives home each night and there's no keep on the invoice. Between 100 and 250 km they stay out and we add $180 a day of the run. Past 250 km we quote the travel rather than guess it.

      Service area, schematic, centred on Northam A schematic plan of the central and eastern wheatbelt with Northam at the centre and two rings drawn around it at 100 kilometres and 250 kilometres. York and Cunderdin sit inside the 100 kilometre ring. Wongan Hills, Merredin, Corrigin and Kojonup sit between the rings. Distances and bearings are approximate and drawn to a schematic scale. 250 KM — QUOTED BEYOND 100 KM — NO KEEP NORTHAM Depot & yard York Cunderdin Wongan Hills Merredin Corrigin Kojonup
      100 km ring — team home each night, no keep 250 km ring — $180 a day of the run Northam depot Schematic — bearings and distances approximate

      Get on the run sheet

      Tell us the numbers and we'll tell you the week

      The run sheet fills from June. Give us the head count, the stands and roughly when you want them and we'll come back with the days we can actually do.

      We'd ring you back the same daywith the weeks we've got free, the days your run would take on your stands, and what we'd want the shed to have ready. This is a demonstration page — nothing is sent anywhere.

      Who should we ask for — letters, spaces, apostrophes and hyphens.

      A number we can ring back — digits, spaces and + only.

      Pick the closest — it sets the keep.

      Your best count, 400 or more — we confirm it off the draft.

      Pick one, or tell us you're not sure.

      One to twelve — leave it blank if you're not sure.

      Roughly is fine — it tells us which end of the season to aim for.

      A line or two is plenty.

      We need a tick here before we'd ring you.

      Or ring the shed on (08) 9000 0393 — 6am to 7pm through the season.

      Before you ring

      The six questions we get every season

      How far ahead do I need to book?
      Ring in February or March for a spring shear and you'll get the week you want. Ring in August and we'll fit you where we can — usually within three or four weeks, sometimes sooner if a shed rolls. The tight months are September and October, when everyone in the wheatbelt wants the same fortnight. Crutching runs are easier to slot because they're short: a four-thousand-head crutching on four stands is three days, so it fits into gaps a full shear never would.
      What does a stand cost, and what's actually in the per-head rate?
      We don't charge for stands, we charge for sheep. $4.60 a head for a full shear, $1.40 for crutching, $5.15 if you want an AWEX-registered classer on the clip. That rate covers the whole team — shearers, shed hands to keep the wool moving, and a presser on the bale — paid to the Pastoral Award 2020 with the conditions that go with it. What sits outside the rate is keep and travel once you're more than 100 km from Northam, and that's $180 for each day of the run, said out loud before you book rather than found on the invoice.
      How many head does a stand do in a day?
      We plan on 140 a stand a day on a full shear and 420 on crutching. Good shearers on good sheep beat that and a wet spring can put you under it, but those are the numbers we quote days on so you can hold us to them. That's the arithmetic the Board runs: a three-stand shed does 420 a day full-shearing, so 2,000 head is five days and the fifth day is a short one — 320 head, not another full 420. We'd rather tell you that in June than have you wondering why the team knocked off at two on the Friday.
      Crutching or a full shear — how much time does it save?
      Roughly a third of the time, because a stand does three times the tally. Four thousand head on four stands is three days crutching against eleven days for a full shear on the same board. Crutching is a fly-strike and lambing job, not a wool job — you're taking the wool off the back end and the wig, not the fleece, so there's almost nothing for the classer to do and no reason to pay for one. If the clip is coming off anyway within a couple of months, most growers skip the crutch and bring the shear forward.
      Is a classer worth it on a smaller clip?
      Honestly, sometimes not. 55c a head on 800 head is $440, and on a clean single-line clip off one age group you may not draw enough separation to pay for it. Where it earns its money is where the mob isn't uniform — different ages, some cast-for-age ewes, a wether line and a hogget line in the same shed, or wool that ranges more than a micron or two. Then the lines get drawn properly, the bales get branded at the press, and the buyer isn't discounting your lot for what he can see in the middle of it. Ring us with the mob and we'll tell you straight whether we'd bother.
      What does the shed need to have ready?
      Power that will run the gear without dropping out, water for the team, pens full and the sheep dry — under cover the night before if there's any chance of rain, because we won't shear wet sheep and a damp mob costs you a day. A working grinder in the shed, a press that isn't seized, and a clear run for the truck to get to the wool room. If your shed is short of any of that, tell us on the phone rather than on the Monday morning — most of it we can bring or work around if we know.
      Ring the shed Ask for a date