Thinking outside the box

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When we took visitors to our old farm recently, the owners (my cousin and her husband) were away but they invited us to look over the farm. Behind the shearing shed was a piece of equipment. We had no idea what it was used for. It was obviously a wide race for handling sheep but had hydraulic pipes attached and grating on the floor. There was a patent label on it saying it was a ProWay design. Grating is a type of flooring with gaps between individual slats. When sheep are penned on grating, the urine and faeces can pass through the gaps keeping the shed more hygienic. The grating on the ProWay was of rubber-covered piping and with slightly wider gaps than usual. There seemed no reason to have such flooring in a race. When we researched it later, we discovered that, using the hydraulics, the floor could be raised with the slats trapping the legs so the sheep are held stationary eliminating the need for extra workers and making it easier to drench, mouth (check their age), backline or apply ear tags, etc. What a clever idea to hold the sheep safely in this way. The photo was taking in the shearing shed on a different visit.