Opening the control gates to innovation
louisa.steyl@stuff.co.nz
Touted as a “marriage saver” and “worth its weight in gold”, it’s no wonder Stock Ezy’s flow control gate won the No. 8 Wire section at Southern Field Days’ Innovation Awards.
But Sean Blenkin, from Masterton, says he has Wairarapa farmers to thank for letting him perfect the gate through trial and error on their farms over six months.
The flow control gate encourages sheep in the race to merge like a zip, preventing bottlenecks and removing the need for someone on the other end guiding flow.
The gate swings left and right, letting sheep through on one side of the gate while blocking sheep on the other side, and vice versa.
As one farmer declared at Southern Field Days last week: “Since the day we put this in, the husband and wife relationship is the best it’s ever been in the yards.”
In fact, being on the receiving end of frustration when sheep aren’t heading in the right direction was what prompted Blenkin to develop the product.
He spent 15 years as a shearer and when he wasn’t shearing, he was helping farmers in the yards, he said. “I was usually the one at the back getting yelled at to keep the sheep flowing.”
Second place in the No 8 Wire section went to Donald Cornwall, from Strainrite, for his automated Hot Wheel fencer for break feeding.
The open section – the category for marketable innovations – was won by Orepuki farmer Grant Lightfoot’s Kiwi Econet edible bale wrap made from natural fibres.
He donated his $500 prize to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.