Growing up in Timaru on a three-hectare lifestyle block, Nicole Austin couldn’t help but be reasonably familiar with sheep. Her family ran a few, while plenty of her friends on more extensive properties made a living from them.
When the Massey University design student came to complete her Honours year, focusing on a specific design project, she decided to look at aspects of sheep treatment that were repetitive and relatively unchanged over time, refining it down to something involving either a castration or docking tool.
“With the traditional tailing iron, we have a tool that really has not changed much at all in about 50 years. In terms of how it is designed it is all about the tool’s function, but it is not the easiest of tools to use,” Austin said.
She found farmers were relatively conservative in their assessment of the tool, claiming it was “adequate” but not completely disseminating its flaws until she got involved in docking herself to fully identify what they were.
“And I found it to be a challenging tool to use – it involved a lot of effort to operate and to actually cut a lamb’s tail, and I could only do about six before I had to stop.”
The iron would also be at risk of being blown out in high winds so common in sheep country during spring, and its temperature would fluctuate, meaning it didn’t always fully cauterise the lamb’s tail as it burnt through.
“So you risked not only welfare issues, but also increased the risk of infection. With that is also the likelihood you get a check in growth rate at a critical time of the lamb’s life.”
But for its faults, the tailing iron had some features Austin was keen to retain in her redesigned version. It was robust, highly portable and relatively simple in its mechanics, making it reliable in areas that may be remote and away from power sources.
Her initial research work involved asking questions of farmers on the NZ Farming Facebook page. While it was difficult to get consistent responses, one she did get back was that despite its flaws, the original docking iron was respected for its functionality.
After months of intensive design and prototype work she developed the “Moray”, which is 35% lighter and uses 60% less hand span than the current docking iron operated by farmers.
The risks of repetitive strain injury common with the old device are all but eliminated, while piezoelectric igniting ensures a weather-proof, constant blade temperature so cauterisation is consistent and clean.
Austin said the most challenging aspect throughout the design process had been to maintain a sheltered flame with a high working temperature within the handpiece’s materials.
“It is this aspect that is still under development, and I will be working alongside engineers who are skilled in those areas.”
The next step is for the Moray to move into the development phase of functional testing, but the young designer has already been swamped with requests for it from distributors, contractors and farmers keen to get their hands on one now.
While New Zealand sheep numbers are well-back on the past, Austin knows the task is still an annual ritual that occupies all sheep farmers in this country, and international interest has also been strong.
She intends to retain ownership of the design as it progresses through its functional testing stages, something that may take another two years to complete.
It also stood her in good stead for going to the top of the interview queue when she finished at Massey, earning her a position as a product developer with Fisher and Paykel’s home laundry team.
Austin is one of a band of young designers making their mark out of Massey’s industrial design school, and she attributes part of the school’s success to being able to spend the full Honours year concentrating on one sole project. The increasingly popular Ubco electric farm bike also has its roots back in the same school.
The national James Dyson Award remains the most coveted industrial design award for Austin’s profession, and she won $3500 with it. But more credit may yet come, should she go on to win the overall international award announced on October 26.
