Episode 168 - A Shout-Out to the Great Work of Agri-Entrepreneurs - The Wayne Perkinz Story

June 05, 2025

Every great innovation starts with a question — Could this be done better?

For Wayne Perkins, that question came in a wool shed, with a busted back, and a view of shearing that hadn’t changed in a century. He wasn’t looking to build a business. He was looking to fix a problem.

And in true agri-entrepreneur fashion, what followed was part invention, part persistence — and one heck of a story.

In this episode, we shine a light on the doers. The tinkerers. The farm-based problem-solvers who aren’t waiting for permission — they’re out there building something better.

Wayne Perkins is the founder of Perkinz, and the creator of the CrutchMaster and ShearMaster — two breakthrough systems in sheep handling that have become a lifeline for farmers and shearers across Australia and New Zealand. Backed by a background in shearing and solid grounding in farming, Wayne's story is a raw and real account of what it takes to create, adapt, and endure.

We explore:

Why practical farmer feedback — not engineering perfection — led to breakthroughs

What it’s like to lead a growing business when the industry you serve is under pressure

And why innovation sometimes starts with a hunk of steel and the belief that things can be better

Wayne has been through the wringer — financially, physically, emotionally. And yet, through all of it, he’s held onto a simple, powerful vision: make shearing better. He is one of the most determined, self-made thinkers in our space — and someone who reminds us all that real progress often starts with having a go.

If you’re an agri-entrepreneur forging your own path, this episode is for you. And if you're looking to reduce the strain and sharpen the system on your own farm, check out the Perkinz CrutchMaster and ShearMaster at perkinz.com.au.

Wayne — thank you for showing us what it means to stay the course, solve the real problems, and lead with vision (and a bit of good Kiwi cheek).

Here’s to every farmer and agri-entrepreneur asking that same question: Could this be done better?

Keep building. Keep asking. And keep believing in better.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Hutchings & the Farm Owners Academy Team

P.S. If you’ve got a spark of something — an idea, a side project, a better way — the challenge is keeping it alive while everything else demands your time. That’s where our planner comes in. In just 10 minutes, it will help farm owners like you, get back in control and keep your good ideas moving forward.

👉 Click here to download your free planner

Episode Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.017 --> 00:00:03.797
I thought to myself, you know, why the hell are we banded down to share a sheep?

00:00:04.077 --> 00:00:08.277
You know, like, look at everything else that we've ever done on farms, it's all got easier.

00:00:08.397 --> 00:00:10.557
Like, we don't dig fields with a spade anymore, do we? You know,

00:00:10.637 --> 00:00:12.237
we've got big tractors we can do.

00:00:12.437 --> 00:00:15.577
What used to take 20 men a month to do a field, we now do in,

00:00:15.717 --> 00:00:16.737
like, 10 minutes in a tractor.

00:00:17.037 --> 00:00:21.477
And yet, still got some guy bending over a sheep, pulling the sheep out,

00:00:21.657 --> 00:00:24.557
and bending over, wrecking their back, wrecking their hip. My back's screwed.

00:00:24.757 --> 00:00:27.377
You know, like, my back's absolute toast. My hips are buggered.

00:00:27.377 --> 00:00:30.277
But I remember thinking, it's got to be an easier way to do this.

00:00:30.417 --> 00:00:32.137
Like this, you know, can we share them?

00:00:32.397 --> 00:00:36.217
Can we change it? Can we make the industry easier? Can we make it better for

00:00:36.217 --> 00:00:37.937
the sheep? Can we make it better for the farmer?

00:00:38.237 --> 00:00:42.517
Can we make it better for the shearer? You know, so that was my idea.

00:00:42.717 --> 00:00:45.877
And some of it is a chance of having a crack and seeing if you can do something.

00:00:46.137 --> 00:00:50.877
But yeah, that was my vision then. And it is still my vision now is can we change

00:00:50.877 --> 00:00:53.957
the industry for the better for all of the parties involved?

00:00:53.957 --> 00:00:56.757
That's still my that's where to

00:00:56.757 --> 00:01:00.077
me that's when Perkins will get to where I guess my vision of it is for.

00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:14.640
Music.

00:01:15.097 --> 00:01:19.897
Welcome to the Profitable Farmer podcast where we share stories and tips to

00:01:19.897 --> 00:01:24.437
help you run a better farming business and create your very own Freedom Farm.

00:01:24.757 --> 00:01:28.877
If you're looking to work smarter and not harder in your farm business,

00:01:29.337 --> 00:01:31.377
welcome, you're in the right place.

00:01:36.597 --> 00:01:40.777
G'day everyone, welcome to Profitable Farmer. A little while ago,

00:01:41.057 --> 00:01:46.557
my son determined, and you might remember Jimmy did his shearing ticket when he was 13.

00:01:46.577 --> 00:01:50.197
He determined that he was going to build a mobile crutching unit.

00:01:50.532 --> 00:01:57.172
As his year 12 project this year. And we did a heap of research and he really dived into that.

00:01:57.372 --> 00:01:58.912
And at one stage, we picked up

00:01:58.912 --> 00:02:03.552
the phone and ran Perkins crutching and shearing systems in New Zealand.

00:02:03.792 --> 00:02:07.252
And Wayne Perkins answered the phone, which was incredibly impressive.

00:02:07.552 --> 00:02:13.612
And over the last 12 months, Wayne has been a fantastic support to Jimmy as

00:02:13.612 --> 00:02:18.032
he's gone about designing and building his crutching unit. And Wayne,

00:02:18.312 --> 00:02:22.412
I want to thank you sincerely for the support you and your team have given Jimmy.

00:02:22.712 --> 00:02:27.852
It's greatly appreciated that you're so positive about seeing a young man have a crack.

00:02:28.032 --> 00:02:32.152
Look at how he can set up his business and succeed in that industry.

00:02:32.332 --> 00:02:36.912
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Wayne Perkins and the Perkins business.

00:02:37.092 --> 00:02:41.432
Being an entrepreneur and being an innovator is an incredible challenge.

00:02:41.432 --> 00:02:47.212
And so many businesses start and don't get to celebrate their fifth or their 10th birthday.

00:02:47.512 --> 00:02:53.752
And I was reflecting after getting to know Wayne that there are so many incredible

00:02:53.752 --> 00:02:59.692
entrepreneurs and innovators providing very important and very valuable services

00:02:59.692 --> 00:03:04.532
to the agricultural industry across Australia, New Zealand, and beyond.

00:03:04.712 --> 00:03:09.632
And so this podcast, I hope, is a shout out to all of those entrepreneurs and

00:03:09.632 --> 00:03:15.332
small businesses supporting farming families and providing really important products and services.

00:03:15.832 --> 00:03:20.392
It's a tough assignment starting up a business and going after entrepreneurship.

00:03:20.392 --> 00:03:25.232
And I think the Perkins business and Wayne's story is a great example of that.

00:03:25.592 --> 00:03:30.372
Wayne and his team are solving a significant problem for the shearing sector

00:03:30.372 --> 00:03:32.712
and for the sheep and wool industry.

00:03:32.712 --> 00:03:39.612
And he's made incredible progress in this, in a space where so many individuals

00:03:39.612 --> 00:03:43.812
and so many funds have been raised to solve the shearing problem.

00:03:43.812 --> 00:03:46.052
He and his team are so progressed.

00:03:46.734 --> 00:03:52.234
I hope you enjoy Wayne's story as much as I did having the conversation.

00:03:57.234 --> 00:04:01.914
Wayne, great to see you. Thanks for your time and welcome to Profitable Farmer Podcast. How are you?

00:04:02.174 --> 00:04:05.154
Good, Jeremy. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to it. Really good to connect

00:04:05.154 --> 00:04:07.094
with you. Where do you find yourself today?

00:04:07.434 --> 00:04:10.914
Today I'm in Dunedin, which is down on the South Island of New Zealand at a

00:04:10.914 --> 00:04:12.614
workshop where we build all the Perkins gears.

00:04:13.274 --> 00:04:15.734
You're sitting there in an office looking out. It's getting pretty cold here.

00:04:15.734 --> 00:04:18.494
We had a bit of snow not long ago. The winter's coming.

00:04:19.314 --> 00:04:23.774
So we work out of Dunedin, but I live in Alexandria, which is quite unique in

00:04:23.774 --> 00:04:28.214
the fact that we get the driest, hottest summers and the coldest winters.

00:04:28.454 --> 00:04:32.734
We'll get down to about minus 10, minus 12 times in the winter.

00:04:32.774 --> 00:04:33.874
So that can be a bit challenging.

00:04:34.134 --> 00:04:37.854
And we get up, well, New Zealand hot in the summer, not Australian hot.

00:04:38.294 --> 00:04:43.134
Yeah, but currently I'm in Dunedin. What's your read on the sheep industry in

00:04:43.134 --> 00:04:46.914
New Zealand at the moment, Wayne? And no doubt you have a huge amount of sort

00:04:46.914 --> 00:04:49.014
of involvement in and exposure to it.

00:04:49.394 --> 00:04:52.694
What's your take on what's happening over there? Well, if you'd asked me a year

00:04:52.694 --> 00:04:55.354
ago, I thought we should all pack up and go home. It was pretty average.

00:04:55.754 --> 00:04:58.614
You know, like land prices were down, wool prices were down. It was just...

00:04:59.184 --> 00:05:03.004
Really, really bad. The sheep industry's been, a lot of them would say over

00:05:03.004 --> 00:05:04.504
here it's been the worst in a generation.

00:05:05.164 --> 00:05:08.084
We've found it quite challenging to sell stuff. I mean, you can't sell stuff

00:05:08.084 --> 00:05:10.144
to people with no money. That's been quite challenging.

00:05:10.324 --> 00:05:13.904
This year, the price of lamb has gone up a lot. It's looking really good.

00:05:14.004 --> 00:05:17.644
But a lot of that's obviously recouping over the last couple of years, which has been average.

00:05:17.844 --> 00:05:21.824
So at the moment, I would say it's quite positive in the sheep industry.

00:05:22.024 --> 00:05:24.744
We just did central districts in fielding, and that was

00:05:24.744 --> 00:05:27.584
about five or six weeks ago and we think that

00:05:27.584 --> 00:05:30.464
would be the best field days we've had for

00:05:30.464 --> 00:05:33.224
probably six or seven years so well i

00:05:33.224 --> 00:05:35.964
think that's that gives us a bit of an idea and the people coming through

00:05:35.964 --> 00:05:39.284
were positive we were selling a fair bit of gear and everyone seemed

00:05:39.284 --> 00:05:42.924
hell of a lot happier than what they've been you know the wool of course is

00:05:42.924 --> 00:05:46.184
different story you know a lot of crossbred wool in new zealand like i guess

00:05:46.184 --> 00:05:49.124
you've got in australia now but it's pretty average over here for the wool you

00:05:49.124 --> 00:05:54.564
know but i think now they tell me that the sharing isn't costing them money

00:05:54.564 --> 00:05:56.464
not making money but it's not costing the money,

00:05:56.544 --> 00:05:59.004
which I guess psychologically is helpful. Yeah.

00:05:59.364 --> 00:06:04.504
Wayne, how do you describe your career prior to setting up the Perkins business?

00:06:04.684 --> 00:06:05.984
I was born here in New Zealand.

00:06:06.264 --> 00:06:09.224
I grew up on a farm. We moved into town when I was about 12.

00:06:09.584 --> 00:06:12.784
Kind of did a bit of a trade building aluminum boats for my clay holes out of Milton.

00:06:13.044 --> 00:06:15.644
But then I basically wanted to go shearing. My dad had been a shearing.

00:06:15.724 --> 00:06:17.084
My brother was shearing around the world.

00:06:17.244 --> 00:06:20.344
It looked like the coolest thing in the world to do. And I wanted to get out of Milton.

00:06:20.504 --> 00:06:23.384
And that was my ticket. So I went shearing, shore around the world,

00:06:23.664 --> 00:06:25.864
and did that for about 15 years.

00:06:26.084 --> 00:06:28.684
Then went shearing contracting. So I did that for three or four years.

00:06:29.004 --> 00:06:32.244
And then, you know, so I've got a background in shearing. I know a fair bit

00:06:32.244 --> 00:06:33.964
about farming, but my background is a shearer.

00:06:34.084 --> 00:06:37.084
I still consider myself a shearer. I'm just a shearer doing something else at

00:06:37.084 --> 00:06:38.164
the moment or trying to do something.

00:06:38.364 --> 00:06:41.464
And then along the way, I was actually, you know, I was shearing contracting

00:06:41.464 --> 00:06:43.384
down in Riversdale in Southland.

00:06:43.604 --> 00:06:46.464
And I was at this particular farm and pretty nosy anyway. You know,

00:06:46.564 --> 00:06:49.724
sometimes shearers like to have a look around and see what's happening around the farmer's place.

00:06:50.304 --> 00:06:53.064
Walked under the shed this particular time there was this bunch of metal down

00:06:53.064 --> 00:06:56.724
there and I was asking the cockies about it farmers about it and they said it

00:06:56.724 --> 00:07:00.064
was an upright shearing an old upright shearing system they used to shear all

00:07:00.064 --> 00:07:04.404
their sheep on without bending down and I was pretty intrigued so I asked them

00:07:04.404 --> 00:07:06.704
a few questions I actually bought it off them for a grand.

00:07:07.304 --> 00:07:10.144
And ripped the wife's garden trailer to bits and bolted this

00:07:10.144 --> 00:07:13.444
on the side and went out and tried to share three or four sheep and

00:07:13.444 --> 00:07:16.424
it was absolute chaos it was a complete disaster but I thought you know what

00:07:16.424 --> 00:07:20.684
I reckon this could be a bit of fun so we sort of went from there we got some

00:07:20.684 --> 00:07:25.204
people around and that was the start of the Perkins business that was the start

00:07:25.204 --> 00:07:30.104
of it so when was that one I reckon that was about 16 or 17 years ago now and

00:07:30.104 --> 00:07:31.864
so we started down that track and then.

00:07:32.324 --> 00:07:35.484
Did a bit of um I developed a couple of upright sharing platforms

00:07:35.484 --> 00:07:38.184
which we've sort of had in hiatus for quite a

00:07:38.184 --> 00:07:41.284
while we might talk about a bit about that later why but developed in

00:07:41.284 --> 00:07:44.104
and then we had the opportunity to build a system for the meatworks they were

00:07:44.104 --> 00:07:46.804
looking at sharing the cut lines on sheep so they didn't

00:07:46.804 --> 00:07:49.984
get contamination from the when they kill them and so

00:07:49.984 --> 00:07:52.604
we developed a system quite an automated system and put it

00:07:52.604 --> 00:07:55.624
into the meatworks and did a lot of trials with fetch and that sort of thing we felt

00:07:55.624 --> 00:07:58.264
like they let us up the garden path a little bit so we were stuck with a fair bit of

00:07:58.264 --> 00:08:01.344
debt and a system that they wouldn't buy and so we thought

00:08:01.344 --> 00:08:04.264
okay we're going to do something so I redesigned what was

00:08:04.264 --> 00:08:07.324
a very technical system into a very non-technical system

00:08:07.324 --> 00:08:10.524
which effectively become our current crutch master

00:08:10.524 --> 00:08:15.424
a few iterations ago but and then we got that onto the market and okay the first

00:08:15.424 --> 00:08:18.744
one wasn't probably the best system in the world but we we worked through and

00:08:18.744 --> 00:08:23.244
and that that become a product that that started Perkins going and it's probably

00:08:23.244 --> 00:08:28.224
been our flagship product up till now so it's that that's how we sort of ripped into it.

00:08:28.444 --> 00:08:31.364
Can you just tell us a bit more about the first couple

00:08:31.364 --> 00:08:34.304
of years setting up the Perkins business and

00:08:34.304 --> 00:08:37.604
how much time and energy went into trying to

00:08:37.604 --> 00:08:41.784
work through a workable design yeah so I'll get all depressed on this Jeremy

00:08:41.784 --> 00:08:46.244
because some of it's not good memories so but so I came up with the idea I wanted

00:08:46.244 --> 00:08:50.384
to you know we'd built the system for the work so I needed to you know simplify

00:08:50.384 --> 00:08:53.344
it to a large degree go back to first principle thinking and that sort of thing

00:08:53.344 --> 00:08:57.384
so I actually built this the first crutch master that I ever built. I was from Riversdale.

00:08:57.584 --> 00:09:00.584
I was reasonably well known in the town and I built this trailer and took it

00:09:00.584 --> 00:09:04.064
out to test it at this farmer's place and half the district found out to come

00:09:04.064 --> 00:09:07.084
out and have a look at it. Not half the district, probably eight or nine people.

00:09:07.367 --> 00:09:10.207
Farmers come out really interested in this crutching system that Periki had built.

00:09:10.367 --> 00:09:14.327
And I started and we ran sheep up, but I didn't have a thing at the front of

00:09:14.327 --> 00:09:17.207
it to stop sheep jumping over the end of the race.

00:09:17.407 --> 00:09:20.087
And so we run about 25 lands up. They all jumped straight off the end of it

00:09:20.087 --> 00:09:22.667
and disappeared into the distance. And we never even struck a blow.

00:09:22.847 --> 00:09:24.867
So everyone had a good laugh about it.

00:09:25.087 --> 00:09:27.887
I had a good laugh about it. Drove home, did a redesign and come back and had

00:09:27.887 --> 00:09:30.967
another go at it. So the very start of it was a complete and utter failure.

00:09:31.147 --> 00:09:34.747
And I sometimes think all I've ever done is fail and odd success.

00:09:35.127 --> 00:09:38.207
And luckily people remember the successes. rather than the failure.

00:09:38.387 --> 00:09:41.027
So I basically built a crutching system.

00:09:41.407 --> 00:09:45.167
And then so we basically learned a lot from the first two or three.

00:09:45.527 --> 00:09:49.367
There's a lot to be said for doing the sort of things that I do with trying

00:09:49.367 --> 00:09:53.607
to, I guess, bring innovative new products in and commercialize them to getting

00:09:53.607 --> 00:09:58.887
the first one out there and riding the next wave of innovation from the customers, the clients.

00:09:59.227 --> 00:10:02.707
And that happens. And sometimes, I mean, you've got to work closely with them

00:10:02.707 --> 00:10:06.007
and keep them on board because the thing they've bought may not be as good as

00:10:06.007 --> 00:10:09.927
what they think it should be or as good as what you've promised it would be.

00:10:10.467 --> 00:10:14.587
But luckily, we worked really well with really good people. And we learned a

00:10:14.587 --> 00:10:18.167
lot from the first three or four trailers. We found a lot of the weak spots very quickly.

00:10:18.387 --> 00:10:21.167
Farmers are pretty good at telling you the weak spots when they buy something like that.

00:10:21.327 --> 00:10:25.827
And so we pretty much robusted it up and made the changes and got to the stage

00:10:25.827 --> 00:10:27.807
where most people buying it were pretty happy.

00:10:27.987 --> 00:10:31.507
Over the years, another two or three iterations to get it where the vast majority

00:10:31.507 --> 00:10:32.867
of people are happy with it.

00:10:32.867 --> 00:10:35.887
So one of the things I did learn, and it was from a book I'd read,

00:10:36.007 --> 00:10:39.527
but when you build a system yourself, it's very easy to get,

00:10:39.687 --> 00:10:40.687
I think it's anything you do,

00:10:40.767 --> 00:10:44.427
it's very easy to get to engross it yourself and you don't see its flaws.

00:10:44.627 --> 00:10:46.747
So you're willing, because it's your baby that you've built,

00:10:46.807 --> 00:10:48.407
you're willing to put up with a lot from it.

00:10:48.587 --> 00:10:51.567
But the people that buy it won't put up with those things. You'll put up with

00:10:51.567 --> 00:10:53.007
your baby crying, but no one else will.

00:10:53.287 --> 00:10:56.507
And so that was a big lesson I had at the start that I'd say, oh, why?

00:10:56.827 --> 00:10:59.987
It's still okay. You can do that. And I'd say, no, it's not acceptable.

00:11:00.287 --> 00:11:03.127
So you'd have to make it better. that was a big lesson

00:11:03.127 --> 00:11:06.327
I learned that you know your clients won't necessarily put

00:11:06.327 --> 00:11:09.367
up with what you'll put up with with your own product and so

00:11:09.367 --> 00:11:12.547
as soon as you get it out on the market and get that really honest sometimes

00:11:12.547 --> 00:11:15.267
brutal feedback better so I went through that we were

00:11:15.267 --> 00:11:18.267
having a crack at things it went really really badly

00:11:18.267 --> 00:11:21.147
the business of the GFC hit the great financial crisis I

00:11:21.147 --> 00:11:24.387
was on the way to Perth to a field days and we had some you know

00:11:24.387 --> 00:11:27.807
some funding that had been advanced by some second tier funders

00:11:27.807 --> 00:11:30.767
and got off the plane over there and the whole world had changed

00:11:30.767 --> 00:11:33.767
you know and we're getting calls from things and it just it was

00:11:33.767 --> 00:11:37.607
just awful lots of things went wrong I had a couple of people they did the dirty

00:11:37.607 --> 00:11:40.847
on me with my sharing business and contract the business so we lost the ability

00:11:40.847 --> 00:11:44.907
to to finance what we were doing so eventually I actually sort of it had to

00:11:44.907 --> 00:11:47.327
just go on hold for a while I went back sharing because I knew if I threw that

00:11:47.327 --> 00:11:51.267
hunk of the sheep someone give me some money to feed the kids so I went back sharing for a while,

00:11:51.787 --> 00:11:56.067
then over time there's a lot of stories to it but over time we found a way through and if you just keep.

00:11:56.691 --> 00:11:59.531
Keep peddling and that sort of thing and we we found a way through to

00:11:59.531 --> 00:12:02.471
to get through it and and sort of keep going and

00:12:02.471 --> 00:12:05.291
get get going again yeah there's some pretty pretty tough times amongst

00:12:05.291 --> 00:12:08.051
it but wayne you just speak to just how

00:12:08.051 --> 00:12:13.951
challenging succeeding in a business startup can be it's understandable why

00:12:13.951 --> 00:12:19.051
so many don't get to celebrate their fifth and their tenth and their 15th birthday

00:12:19.051 --> 00:12:23.011
just because it is such a challenging path yeah there's a whole framework i

00:12:23.011 --> 00:12:25.671
understand called the lean startup framework.

00:12:25.911 --> 00:12:29.751
I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it talks about how a lot of innovators

00:12:29.751 --> 00:12:33.631
try and perfect their product for way too long rather than just getting it out

00:12:33.631 --> 00:12:39.031
to the market and then relying on their consumer feedback and adapting and pivoting and then relaunching.

00:12:39.291 --> 00:12:43.371
It sounds like that's exactly what you did. And I guess my question to you is

00:12:43.371 --> 00:12:47.531
how many iterations, how many relaunches and how many versions of the Shear

00:12:47.531 --> 00:12:51.851
Master and the Crutch Master do you reckon you've relaunched over the years?

00:12:51.951 --> 00:12:54.751
I reckon we've had about seven in crutch masters now the first

00:12:54.751 --> 00:12:57.771
two or three were very quick just off build one trailer you

00:12:57.771 --> 00:13:00.491
know test it okay this needs change build the next one so probably the

00:13:00.491 --> 00:13:03.571
first three weren't really in the market they were you

00:13:03.571 --> 00:13:08.651
know prototype pre-production production type models so but in the market probably

00:13:08.651 --> 00:13:12.511
the first two iterations we had in the market weren't really good enough they

00:13:12.511 --> 00:13:15.811
were good enough for some people like some people really like them but it wasn't

00:13:15.811 --> 00:13:19.211
a high enough strike rate you know you need more than 20 percent of your clients

00:13:19.211 --> 00:13:21.791
raving about your product but it didn't take long,

00:13:21.871 --> 00:13:25.431
you've got to have a bit of a thick skin and you've got to be prepared to.

00:13:26.138 --> 00:13:28.838
Drop your ego one of the guys who was kind

00:13:28.838 --> 00:13:31.898
of my mentor he's passed away now he's a guy Roy Shanks from

00:13:31.898 --> 00:13:34.878
Dunedin he helped me a lot with this here and he said something

00:13:34.878 --> 00:13:37.858
really important when he's talking about you know

00:13:37.858 --> 00:13:41.498
there's inventors and entrepreneurs and I don't really consider myself either

00:13:41.498 --> 00:13:45.318
but he said inventors they never finish a product they they're too scared to

00:13:45.318 --> 00:13:48.758
release it though it's never perfect it's never ready you just got to put it

00:13:48.758 --> 00:13:52.398
out there and have a crack and that's probably a little bit my nature anyway

00:13:52.398 --> 00:13:55.978
to have a crack luckily if we hadn't I can And see why a lot of people,

00:13:56.198 --> 00:13:59.978
we see it all the time with people, they want to do this and that, but they never fit us.

00:14:00.438 --> 00:14:04.078
It's never quite there. And I think they never end up releasing it, you know.

00:14:04.198 --> 00:14:07.738
How challenging were those? You mentioned having to go back shearing and you

00:14:07.738 --> 00:14:12.918
mentioned, you know, that feedback that you consistently got as you kind of got those prototypes.

00:14:13.138 --> 00:14:17.058
How challenging do you reflect on those first three to five years of getting

00:14:17.058 --> 00:14:20.118
this thing going, Wayne? It was bloody awful.

00:14:20.578 --> 00:14:24.878
Like it was rare. So there was, like, if you had asked me probably 11 years

00:14:24.878 --> 00:14:27.678
ago, you know, five years in, I would have said this is the dumbest,

00:14:27.838 --> 00:14:29.218
worst thing I've ever done in my life.

00:14:29.378 --> 00:14:32.678
What the hell have I done it for? But you're in that bloody deep.

00:14:32.938 --> 00:14:37.398
You can't get out and you just got to keep going. So I still wonder if most

00:14:37.398 --> 00:14:40.958
of the reason why these things sort of work is that people have got no option to get out.

00:14:41.038 --> 00:14:43.838
So you just keep going and going and going and eventually try and,

00:14:43.938 --> 00:14:46.658
you know, luckily sometimes you make it, you know, so I don't know what making

00:14:46.658 --> 00:14:51.318
it is. But yeah, I think it was in that date that you had no option.

00:14:51.478 --> 00:14:54.638
I had no other options at that stage. This is all that I had going.

00:14:54.958 --> 00:14:57.858
And you just, no matter if it's hell, you think, well, that's all I've got.

00:14:57.898 --> 00:15:00.538
I'll keep going. You know, like you just got to keep going.

00:15:00.878 --> 00:15:04.538
And look, when I went back sharing, which was pretty, in lots of ways,

00:15:04.618 --> 00:15:06.838
it was pretty humbling because I think I was going to be this big shot,

00:15:07.118 --> 00:15:08.218
you know, businessman or whatever.

00:15:08.478 --> 00:15:10.338
You know, you think you're going to build a mousetrap and the world are going

00:15:10.338 --> 00:15:11.338
to be the path to your door.

00:15:11.518 --> 00:15:15.138
And well, in my experience, they don't. And yeah, so I went back shearing and

00:15:15.138 --> 00:15:18.358
then I was, you know, I wasn't, I used to be a reasonably good shearer.

00:15:18.598 --> 00:15:20.978
I hope there's no ego in that, but I was, yeah, I was pretty good.

00:15:21.218 --> 00:15:25.038
And I went back and I wasn't as good. I was a bit fat and unfit and a bit older.

00:15:25.218 --> 00:15:26.578
And then my back gave out.

00:15:26.878 --> 00:15:31.158
And so eventually, actually, it got to the stage where my wife had to come and

00:15:31.158 --> 00:15:32.778
pick me up in the shed. I couldn't walk out of the shed.

00:15:32.998 --> 00:15:36.438
So the only option I'd had that was keeping me going was shearing and crutching

00:15:36.438 --> 00:15:37.678
and I couldn't even do that anymore.

00:15:38.018 --> 00:15:43.018
So that brought on a particular time of about two or three years of really desperate financial hardship.

00:15:43.438 --> 00:15:47.878
That was really, really tough. So, yeah, I'm glad all that's over and we managed to get through it.

00:15:48.038 --> 00:15:51.378
Yeah, it's a tough gig, eh? It's a tough gig doing this sort of thing.

00:15:51.618 --> 00:15:52.738
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

00:15:53.018 --> 00:15:56.518
As you reflect back, what were one or two of your biggest learnings back then?

00:15:56.718 --> 00:16:02.338
Probably the thing that kept me going is that I had this idea when I started Perkins.

00:16:02.578 --> 00:16:04.618
I remember sitting and looking at that hunk of steel.

00:16:05.352 --> 00:16:08.392
And under that wall shed. And I was thinking, you know what,

00:16:08.412 --> 00:16:11.492
I reckon we could change this industry and then it'd be a lot of fun to try.

00:16:11.712 --> 00:16:14.432
And it has been a lot of fun, but it's been a lot of pain as well.

00:16:14.512 --> 00:16:19.112
But I've never really lost that vision of where I want Perkins to get to.

00:16:19.252 --> 00:16:22.832
And for some reason, and I don't know why, it still drives me.

00:16:23.252 --> 00:16:27.312
Like it just makes me do things that I'm still not really sure why I do them,

00:16:27.492 --> 00:16:32.672
but I'm prepared to go through the pain still to drive to where I want that vision of Perkins to be.

00:16:32.792 --> 00:16:35.932
So back then, what was the problem that you saw and

00:16:35.932 --> 00:16:39.072
what was the change that you thought could be

00:16:39.072 --> 00:16:41.852
made well i thought it was going to be a lot easier than what it turned

00:16:41.852 --> 00:16:45.012
out to be obviously i thought to myself you know why the

00:16:45.012 --> 00:16:47.912
hell are we banded down a share of sheep you know like look at everything

00:16:47.912 --> 00:16:50.712
else that we've ever done on farms it's all got

00:16:50.712 --> 00:16:53.312
easier like we don't dig fields with a spade anymore do we you know

00:16:53.312 --> 00:16:56.332
we've got big tractors we can do what used to take 20

00:16:56.332 --> 00:16:59.132
men a month to do a field we now doing like 10 minutes in

00:16:59.132 --> 00:17:02.552
a tractor and yet still got some some guy bending

00:17:02.552 --> 00:17:05.492
over a sheep pulling the sheep out and bending over wrecking

00:17:05.492 --> 00:17:08.772
their back wrecking their hip my back's screwed you know like my back's absolute

00:17:08.772 --> 00:17:12.372
toast my hips are buggered but i remember thinking it's got to be an easier

00:17:12.372 --> 00:17:16.192
way to do this like this you know can we share them can we change it can we

00:17:16.192 --> 00:17:19.972
make the industry easier can we make it better for the sheep can we make it

00:17:19.972 --> 00:17:23.032
better for the farmer can we make it better for the shearer

00:17:23.230 --> 00:17:28.630
So that was my idea. And some of it is a chance of having a crack and seeing if you can do something.

00:17:28.890 --> 00:17:33.650
But yeah, that was my vision then. And it is still my vision now is can we change

00:17:33.650 --> 00:17:36.730
the industry for the better for all of the parties involved?

00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:41.190
That's still my, that's where, to me, that's when Perkins will get to where

00:17:41.190 --> 00:17:42.850
I guess my vision of it is for.

00:17:42.970 --> 00:17:48.010
Wayne, a heap of money has been raised to try and solve this automated sharing

00:17:48.010 --> 00:17:52.430
or these innovations that you talk about to try and make it easier for our sharers

00:17:52.430 --> 00:17:54.570
and for farmers in this sheep space.

00:17:54.730 --> 00:17:57.810
Is there a reason you think it hasn't actually been achieved?

00:17:58.150 --> 00:18:02.030
One, I think it's bloody difficult, eh? Like it's incredibly difficult.

00:18:02.210 --> 00:18:05.230
Once you, when I first thought, okay, we've got to share a sheep without bending

00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:08.710
down, I thought, okay, yeah, I sort of have a bit of an idea in my head of how I'd do it.

00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:12.690
And when you start to do it, you realise all these other things that come into play.

00:18:12.830 --> 00:18:17.830
And so right at the start, one of the first upright sharing systems that I built, we got AWI.

00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:21.590
They were heavily funded to do it. There was people getting paid to do this

00:18:21.590 --> 00:18:24.130
and that and go around and, you know, there was a big push for upright sharing.

00:18:25.110 --> 00:18:28.390
And they come and saw us and I don't know if they're that impressed with it,

00:18:28.450 --> 00:18:30.830
but they were impressed enough to give us a bit of encouragement.

00:18:30.970 --> 00:18:33.930
We never got any money from AWI, you know, way back then. It was,

00:18:34.170 --> 00:18:35.590
you know, 15 years ago or whatever.

00:18:35.850 --> 00:18:39.650
But I think, one, it's very difficult.

00:18:39.890 --> 00:18:44.970
Two, I think virtually all of the systems back then got hijacked by the engineers.

00:18:45.310 --> 00:18:49.550
And I remember Roy saying very clearly, don't let the, some bad words,

00:18:49.730 --> 00:18:50.830
engineers get involved.

00:18:51.030 --> 00:18:54.690
They don't know what they're doing. Only let the engineers get involved once

00:18:54.690 --> 00:18:57.050
you've designed what you need as a sharer.

00:18:57.190 --> 00:19:00.110
And I saw a lot of systems develop back then, and I saw virtually all of them

00:19:00.110 --> 00:19:03.750
get hijacked by engineers and people wanting to do this and that with them.

00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:08.770
So I think that's been a factor. But I think it's genuinely just really, really difficult.

00:19:09.030 --> 00:19:13.330
You know, like it's a really hard thing to do. And so far, no one's got...

00:19:13.841 --> 00:19:16.821
You know, I mean, I think there's a good ram-sharing trailer out there that

00:19:16.821 --> 00:19:19.521
what P. Kill have got. I think that's really good, you know. Like, I'm impressed.

00:19:19.781 --> 00:19:22.521
You know, Bill's a great guy. I'm really impressed with what they've gone,

00:19:22.621 --> 00:19:27.481
but I'm not sure. I could be wrong here, but I'm not sure that's a commercial reality for flock ewes.

00:19:27.741 --> 00:19:30.401
Or is it ever going to be? I don't know. You know, maybe.

00:19:30.981 --> 00:19:35.141
But it's just really, really tough. But the other thing is, this is something

00:19:35.141 --> 00:19:40.261
that we really believe here at Perkins, is that you kind of need to have your

00:19:40.261 --> 00:19:41.861
own balls on the line, you know.

00:19:41.861 --> 00:19:45.841
When you're spending your own money, you're kind of a bit more cautious and

00:19:45.841 --> 00:19:48.161
you think a lot more carefully. Am I going to do that?

00:19:48.301 --> 00:19:51.221
Yeah. Well, it's going to cost me money and reputation and time.

00:19:51.401 --> 00:19:55.661
And I'm just not sure sometimes if with the best of intentions,

00:19:55.661 --> 00:19:59.941
trying to throw money at people to design these things, I make better decisions

00:19:59.941 --> 00:20:03.321
when I'm spending money that I know is valuable, you know?

00:20:03.501 --> 00:20:07.621
So yeah, I think, yeah, I'm not sure that's always helpful. You know,

00:20:07.701 --> 00:20:09.101
I know that you need to do it sometimes.

00:20:09.441 --> 00:20:11.981
But there's a lot to be said for some guy being that desperate.

00:20:12.121 --> 00:20:15.261
He just keeps going and going and going and going to make the damn thing work

00:20:15.261 --> 00:20:17.301
because he's got no option not to.

00:20:17.621 --> 00:20:20.881
I think you've just spoken to the power and the importance of entrepreneurship.

00:20:21.001 --> 00:20:25.101
I think when money is raised or even capital is raised and there are people

00:20:25.101 --> 00:20:29.561
employed on a safe salary to go after innovation, perhaps it isn't done with

00:20:29.561 --> 00:20:33.841
the real intent that entrepreneurs bring to the table. I think it's a key point.

00:20:34.081 --> 00:20:37.941
And just hats off to you for the endurance and the persistence that no doubt

00:20:37.941 --> 00:20:41.021
you've shown over the years, Wayne, to see this project through?

00:20:41.201 --> 00:20:44.901
Some people would call it stupidity, and they might be more accurate.

00:20:45.621 --> 00:20:49.301
Yeah, well, maybe Burke and Wills and some of those guys were stupid,

00:20:49.321 --> 00:20:51.361
or maybe they were just pioneers. Who knows?

00:20:51.641 --> 00:20:56.041
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. For those who haven't heard of the Perkins Crutchmaster

00:20:56.041 --> 00:21:00.481
or Shearmaster, do you mind just explaining what those products are and who

00:21:00.481 --> 00:21:05.341
they serve and even your reach now across Australia and New Zealand, Wayne? Yep.

00:21:05.721 --> 00:21:09.601
Yeah, so the Crutchmaster, which I'm guessing a lot of your listeners will have

00:21:09.601 --> 00:21:13.461
seen or had on their farms, we've got about 400 trailers in the eastern states

00:21:13.461 --> 00:21:15.641
of Aussie now, which we think that's pretty good.

00:21:15.681 --> 00:21:18.741
You know, for us, we feel really well supported by the Australian farmers.

00:21:18.881 --> 00:21:22.261
They seem to not mind us. So it's basically a race trailer where you tip the

00:21:22.261 --> 00:21:25.361
sheep out of a race into a cradle. It's upside down, so you'd have to bend down.

00:21:25.481 --> 00:21:28.781
So you can belly it, take the wigs off it, you know, top knot it,

00:21:28.961 --> 00:21:31.461
crutch it, and then it goes away and you get another one out.

00:21:31.601 --> 00:21:34.641
So that's been our flagship product. So there's a lot of them out there,

00:21:34.741 --> 00:21:35.861
the Perkins Crutchmaster.

00:21:36.141 --> 00:21:39.421
We're pretty proud of it. And then this guy from Tassie, he got a hold of me

00:21:39.421 --> 00:21:42.521
and he just said, look, I'm building the shed, Wayne, and seeing your Crutchmaster,

00:21:42.661 --> 00:21:45.341
can you build me kind of like a shearing system, sort of like your Crutchmaster?

00:21:45.561 --> 00:21:48.581
I don't want to spend hundreds of thousands or millions on a shed.

00:21:48.581 --> 00:21:51.981
I just want to pop a stand in the corner of it because it's a lot of capital

00:21:51.981 --> 00:21:55.261
costs, you know, for a shed that you use, what, a week of the year,

00:21:55.341 --> 00:21:56.261
two weeks of the year, you know.

00:21:56.381 --> 00:21:59.061
I've always thought that. You spend a lot of money on a wool shed and it's what,

00:21:59.281 --> 00:22:00.401
you use two or three weeks of the year.

00:22:00.878 --> 00:22:03.998
Just don't make sense to me anyway so we built him one and

00:22:03.998 --> 00:22:07.058
we sent it over to tassie and he put it in and the neighbors saw

00:22:07.058 --> 00:22:09.838
it and they rung me said look we've seen the

00:22:09.838 --> 00:22:12.738
system you know we're interested in getting the full stand of it of the

00:22:12.738 --> 00:22:16.718
share master system and i said well look it's we're still in development i look

00:22:16.718 --> 00:22:19.738
i'm sure it's going to work but i can't and you can't make your reputation what

00:22:19.738 --> 00:22:23.258
you're going to do like i can't tell you that it's working yet because we don't

00:22:23.258 --> 00:22:26.798
know and they said oh we'll buy it anyway and like it's i was thinking well

00:22:26.798 --> 00:22:30.018
that's surprising That's not been my experience with the product,

00:22:30.198 --> 00:22:33.218
but they bought it and they put a season's worth of shearing through it.

00:22:33.438 --> 00:22:35.438
And then they bought another stand and turned it into a five stand.

00:22:35.798 --> 00:22:37.858
And I thought, man, that's really interesting. That's promising.

00:22:38.218 --> 00:22:41.038
And then two of the neighbors bought Shearmasters. And at this stage,

00:22:41.118 --> 00:22:42.998
I was being very cautious.

00:22:43.158 --> 00:22:45.298
I said, well, look, you know, we're still at the beginning. I'm not sure it's

00:22:45.298 --> 00:22:47.858
there, you know, but they bought them anyway. And I thought,

00:22:47.938 --> 00:22:48.738
that's really interesting.

00:22:48.998 --> 00:22:53.218
That tells you a lot about something, you know, because these guys had gone to see it in action.

00:22:53.498 --> 00:22:57.018
So the Shearmaster, it's a race delivery system like our crutching trailer.

00:22:57.398 --> 00:22:58.738
So you tip the sheep out of a race.

00:22:59.338 --> 00:23:02.498
So there's a few, AWI's done a bit of a push of late, you know,

00:23:02.658 --> 00:23:06.298
to, I guess, take away the catch and drag from shearing.

00:23:06.398 --> 00:23:10.418
So if you're dragging a 60, 70, 80 kilo sheep out of a catching pen and dragging

00:23:10.418 --> 00:23:13.098
it four, five, six meters sometimes, sometimes more,

00:23:13.364 --> 00:23:15.824
It's a lot of weight, it's a lot of stress on you, and it's a lot of time.

00:23:15.964 --> 00:23:20.324
So the idea was, you know, walk the sheep close to where the shearer is shearing,

00:23:20.704 --> 00:23:24.324
tip it out of a race, and you're eliminating a lot of the catch and drag traditional.

00:23:24.624 --> 00:23:28.044
So that's, and I think that makes a lot of sense. So they were pushing towards that.

00:23:28.164 --> 00:23:32.524
We'd already had one designed before pushing that way, but we sort of come onto

00:23:32.524 --> 00:23:35.624
the market about the same time as they were pushing that anyway,

00:23:35.644 --> 00:23:36.624
and they gave us a bit of help.

00:23:36.844 --> 00:23:39.824
We really appreciate it, the things that they did for us. Just with,

00:23:40.204 --> 00:23:42.964
they gave us a bit of free publicity and beyond the bail, you know,

00:23:43.524 --> 00:23:45.704
It's nice to us, just to help us out, gave us information.

00:23:46.044 --> 00:23:49.044
Definitely put no barriers up, which we were a bit worried about being Kiwis.

00:23:49.464 --> 00:23:53.404
You Aussies really want a bunch of Kiwis coming over. So we're very appreciative.

00:23:54.164 --> 00:23:57.924
They didn't give us money, but they gave us good support, which I think is good

00:23:57.924 --> 00:24:01.404
because I guess they were letting their growers know that we were an option.

00:24:01.604 --> 00:24:05.564
So the race delivery systems doing away with the catch and drag is something

00:24:05.564 --> 00:24:09.524
that most of the wool growers in Australia will now be aware of.

00:24:09.524 --> 00:24:15.664
So we're as differs as we think, and obviously I'm biased, I think it's good.

00:24:15.844 --> 00:24:22.004
We have a double race system, so we can run the sheep up two ways into our share master.

00:24:22.284 --> 00:24:27.744
Our share master also doubles as a crutching system. So we have shearing boards that go up and down.

00:24:27.884 --> 00:24:31.444
So the board the shearer stands on, it can go up and down. So if you push the

00:24:31.444 --> 00:24:35.544
board down, we can put our crutching cradles onto the system in the wall shed,

00:24:35.564 --> 00:24:37.544
and then they've got a crutch master system.

00:24:37.544 --> 00:24:41.224
And if we put the shearing boards up then they've got a traditional shearing

00:24:41.224 --> 00:24:45.024
system or a traditional crutching system or they can put two of the boards down

00:24:45.024 --> 00:24:47.744
and have two people crutching on their crutching cradles and all the rest doing

00:24:47.744 --> 00:24:49.324
it traditionally so it gives lots of options.

00:24:49.604 --> 00:24:53.164
We also run the sheep around a double race so rather than the sheep going straight

00:24:53.164 --> 00:24:57.304
up where the shearer tips them out and then has to twist the sheep around with

00:24:57.304 --> 00:25:02.404
our system we run them around a race which puts about four to five sheep per

00:25:02.404 --> 00:25:05.744
shearer into the pipeline so it's kind of like having a catching pen up there

00:25:05.974 --> 00:25:08.094
And when the shearer tips the sheep out, they don't have to twist it,

00:25:08.154 --> 00:25:11.094
it's right in position. And so one of the key things I identified right at the

00:25:11.094 --> 00:25:14.274
start being a shearer and lazy, I thought, well, why would I want to have a

00:25:14.274 --> 00:25:17.634
system where I've got to tip the sheep out and then turn it around? It makes no sense to me.

00:25:17.894 --> 00:25:22.474
So that's a few of the key differences with our system that are different to others.

00:25:22.794 --> 00:25:26.794
You know, I think it's a better idea. I think fundamentally the principles are

00:25:26.794 --> 00:25:28.534
better, but I will be very biased.

00:25:28.714 --> 00:25:30.654
And I think there's some other very good systems out there, you know?

00:25:30.814 --> 00:25:33.634
So that's obviously my opinion. What are some of the numbers?

00:25:33.854 --> 00:25:38.414
With both of those systems for shearing and crutching, how many more sheep get

00:25:38.414 --> 00:25:41.294
shorn in a day compared to the conventional systems?

00:25:41.534 --> 00:25:50.954
So the record on our Crutchmaster trailer for bungholing lambs is 2,800 for the day, for one person.

00:25:51.214 --> 00:25:54.414
We don't expect most people to do that, and I don't know how much wool they

00:25:54.414 --> 00:25:55.794
were taking off them either, to be honest.

00:25:56.094 --> 00:25:59.414
But we say with our Crutchmaster systems, once

00:25:59.414 --> 00:26:02.274
you get used to it and they take a bit of getting used to you won't do it your first day

00:26:02.274 --> 00:26:05.394
once you get used to it you'll probably do about you know

00:26:05.394 --> 00:26:08.094
10 to 25 percent more than what you would in

00:26:08.094 --> 00:26:11.254
a wool shed because you're just simply not having to drag them out so

00:26:11.254 --> 00:26:13.774
you've saved yourself that amount of time you still got to put the same blows

00:26:13.774 --> 00:26:16.374
in you still got to move the hampis through the wool and take the same amount

00:26:16.374 --> 00:26:20.334
of wool off you just don't have the downtime so we're looking about 15 to 25

00:26:20.334 --> 00:26:24.774
percent quicker and with the share master it's not percentage wise as quicker

00:26:24.774 --> 00:26:28.594
because with crutching you've got a lot you know you're doing a lot more so you've got a lot.

00:26:29.114 --> 00:26:31.754
Less your downtime's a lot bigger chunk of the

00:26:31.754 --> 00:26:34.614
whole cycle but with the share master we've had

00:26:34.614 --> 00:26:37.794
some farmers telling us what we think are some pretty embellished numbers now

00:26:37.794 --> 00:26:42.614
one guy reckon he went from 10 days down to six i think he's enthusiastic with

00:26:42.614 --> 00:26:47.494
what he said but it seems like everyone is telling us there's probably about

00:26:47.494 --> 00:26:51.754
a 10 percent increase in what the sharers can share through them,

00:26:52.134 --> 00:26:54.114
which by itself is very, very handy.

00:26:54.674 --> 00:26:58.074
You know, so from first principles point of view, when you think about it,

00:26:58.234 --> 00:27:00.174
you've always got other staff in a wool shed.

00:27:00.514 --> 00:27:04.134
When the shearer is dragging that sheet that four or five meters in that time,

00:27:04.334 --> 00:27:06.254
you're paying staff while nothing's happening.

00:27:06.474 --> 00:27:10.214
So you want the shearer shearing for as much of the time, cutting as much wool

00:27:10.214 --> 00:27:14.354
off while they're doing it as you can to make use of everyone else's their time.

00:27:14.554 --> 00:27:18.834
I would say the figures that we're being told about as Shear Master will be

00:27:18.834 --> 00:27:22.654
the same. we won't be I don't think we'll be quicker than the other race delivery

00:27:22.654 --> 00:27:25.654
systems I think we I'd like to think we're maybe a wee bit quicker but,

00:27:26.265 --> 00:27:29.845
I think all the race delivery systems will give benefits in time.

00:27:30.045 --> 00:27:33.325
There are significant advancements in an industry that, with respect,

00:27:33.485 --> 00:27:36.665
probably hasn't advanced for some time. So, yeah, well done.

00:27:36.945 --> 00:27:40.525
Yeah, probably needs to happen, you know, and, like, let's see how it goes.

00:27:40.645 --> 00:27:43.705
But it definitely seems to be the appetite.

00:27:44.005 --> 00:27:47.245
Having said that, the sheep industry in Australia has had a couple of tough

00:27:47.245 --> 00:27:50.325
years as well, hasn't it, you know? So we had our sails fall off the cliff there for a year.

00:27:50.485 --> 00:27:53.805
They've come back up this year quite well, yeah. But I think there's definitely

00:27:53.805 --> 00:27:57.585
the appetite to streamline these things and make things easier.

00:27:57.825 --> 00:28:00.285
Can you describe the Perkins business today?

00:28:00.625 --> 00:28:05.625
Came to understand the manufacturing system that you have and the team that you employ.

00:28:05.865 --> 00:28:10.225
And how does the business look today? So we've got a workshop here in Dunedin.

00:28:10.225 --> 00:28:14.385
We build all the crutch masters and share masters here.

00:28:14.605 --> 00:28:20.565
So there's probably 18 to 19 people all up, you know, employed throughout the Perkins business.

00:28:21.105 --> 00:28:27.105
We send probably 85% to 90% of our sheep handling equipment to Australia.

00:28:27.365 --> 00:28:30.085
We're way bigger in Australia than we are in New Zealand. Maybe that's because

00:28:30.085 --> 00:28:30.945
people know me over here.

00:28:31.225 --> 00:28:34.365
They don't know me so well in Australia. But anyways, it's just the way that

00:28:34.365 --> 00:28:37.645
it's worked. I think, well, obviously the Australian market is a lot bigger than here.

00:28:37.885 --> 00:28:42.545
The Australians really took to our systems really early on. So we've got about

00:28:42.545 --> 00:28:44.385
400 crutching trailers in Australia.

00:28:44.545 --> 00:28:49.125
The Shear Master that is just across here that's going in a container this week,

00:28:49.125 --> 00:28:51.125
We've got another 16 going to New South Wales.

00:28:51.345 --> 00:28:57.765
It'll be, I think, our 30th or 14th system share master in about three years,

00:28:57.965 --> 00:28:59.685
which we think is pretty good in a tough market.

00:29:00.045 --> 00:29:03.745
We've had a number in Australia that have told us they want to go on hold for

00:29:03.745 --> 00:29:08.645
a while just because they weren't making the money they needed to be able to pay for the damn thing.

00:29:08.765 --> 00:29:13.765
So I think it's been a tough market. So I think that's been not as many as I would have liked.

00:29:13.945 --> 00:29:17.005
It's never as many as you like, but I think it's been a pretty good start.

00:29:17.305 --> 00:29:20.205
So we built them over here. we ship most of the gear over to Australia.

00:29:20.485 --> 00:29:22.265
We send the containers very, very often.

00:29:22.485 --> 00:29:25.045
We've got a warehouse in Melbourne. So we ship them across the ditch and then

00:29:25.045 --> 00:29:26.925
it's an Australian transaction. We've got an Australian account.

00:29:27.145 --> 00:29:29.825
The Aussies buy the gear office and they pick it up from the warehouse and that's

00:29:29.825 --> 00:29:31.525
been. That's been a big part of our business.

00:29:31.785 --> 00:29:38.185
Recently, given the fact that the sheep industry's been a pretty tough industry,

00:29:38.505 --> 00:29:40.585
like in New Zealand, it's just toast.

00:29:40.825 --> 00:29:43.005
It's coming right now, but Australia's been tough as well.

00:29:43.465 --> 00:29:49.225
We started around doing solar water pumping about But for Perkins,

00:29:49.465 --> 00:29:51.865
getting right into it, probably about six or seven years ago now,

00:29:51.865 --> 00:29:56.205
we wanted to pivot away, but we didn't want to be dependent just on the sheep

00:29:56.205 --> 00:30:00.525
industry because there's a lot of questions I think we could ask around how

00:30:00.525 --> 00:30:02.565
things are going to pan out for the sheep industry.

00:30:02.605 --> 00:30:05.625
And I've got some opinions on that that you may and may not want to hear later.

00:30:05.785 --> 00:30:09.745
And I've done some humanitarian work in Vanuatu, going over there and taking

00:30:09.745 --> 00:30:12.825
some pumps and trying to get water for villages, which I really, really enjoyed.

00:30:12.905 --> 00:30:17.385
It was seriously cool fun to go over there with a pump and you'd go there to

00:30:17.385 --> 00:30:18.705
a village and you'd get some water.

00:30:18.905 --> 00:30:21.465
There was one particular place that had a tank that some people had gone about

00:30:21.465 --> 00:30:24.005
30 years ago and built a water tank. It never had water in it.

00:30:24.204 --> 00:30:27.144
You know, because it's obviously at the top of a hill and the water's down the bottom.

00:30:27.324 --> 00:30:31.564
So we took a pump over and we got water to the tank and it was seriously cool fun, you know.

00:30:31.704 --> 00:30:34.504
And they killed a pig for us and called us chiefs and, you know,

00:30:34.664 --> 00:30:36.144
made a big deal of us and that was a lot of fun.

00:30:36.344 --> 00:30:39.144
So we had a little bit of knowledge of that. And then we started doing the odd

00:30:39.144 --> 00:30:41.744
solar water power pump or solar pump here in New Zealand.

00:30:41.844 --> 00:30:45.224
And we just seemed to be whatever, you know, people didn't mind us.

00:30:45.384 --> 00:30:48.244
And we just started slowly with that and learning a bit.

00:30:48.504 --> 00:30:51.624
And just, it's become a bigger and bigger part of our business.

00:30:52.144 --> 00:30:55.164
So this year, especially with a bit of a fall off with some of the sheep handling

00:30:55.164 --> 00:30:57.824
gear, especially in New Zealand, it's more than made up for it.

00:30:57.964 --> 00:31:02.824
So we do a lot of solar water pumping solutions now around a pump that's made

00:31:02.824 --> 00:31:05.344
here in New Zealand and some that we import in from China.

00:31:05.504 --> 00:31:08.064
And that's become a really big part of our business.

00:31:08.384 --> 00:31:13.404
It's a growth part of our business. Everyone needs water. You're not relegated

00:31:13.404 --> 00:31:14.284
like with our sheep handling.

00:31:14.884 --> 00:31:19.204
We're relegated to the sheep industry, obviously. And we're launching that solar

00:31:19.204 --> 00:31:20.644
water pumping business into Australia.

00:31:20.644 --> 00:31:23.384
We're going to come to sheepvention and display some of

00:31:23.384 --> 00:31:26.144
the stuff we've got one of the pumps that's pretty unique and just

00:31:26.144 --> 00:31:28.944
see if the if the Aussies like our water gear as

00:31:28.944 --> 00:31:31.824
much as they seem to like some of our sheep gear so so yeah we we

00:31:31.824 --> 00:31:34.624
did that to just so that we've got a bit of we're

00:31:34.624 --> 00:31:37.724
not completely reliant on one industry and it was really

00:31:37.724 --> 00:31:40.604
helpful because it must be about two years ago two and a half years ago

00:31:40.604 --> 00:31:43.704
now when when the Australian sheep industry like they

00:31:43.704 --> 00:31:46.544
had their tough times and our orders just fell off a cliff like

00:31:46.544 --> 00:31:49.284
the phone just stopped ringing you know and it was just and you keep thinking

00:31:49.284 --> 00:31:52.364
what have we done have we you know offended someone or have we wrecked something

00:31:52.364 --> 00:31:55.824
or and back then we're talking to other companies and they're the same you know so we

00:31:55.824 --> 00:31:58.564
were really lucky that we already had that pivot and we

00:31:58.564 --> 00:32:02.804
had that ability to still be doing something and paying the bills you know so

00:32:02.804 --> 00:32:05.884
that's a big part of our business and we also have a spraying part of our business

00:32:05.884 --> 00:32:09.084
where we do these we make some sprayer trailers and some 12 volt sprayers that

00:32:09.084 --> 00:32:12.604
we import in from china under the perkins brand and it's a it's a small part

00:32:12.604 --> 00:32:15.164
of our business but it's stuff going out the door you know it's it just gives

00:32:15.164 --> 00:32:16.764
you another bit of strung to your boat.

00:32:16.984 --> 00:32:19.764
What are some of the key skill sets you were short on.

00:32:20.459 --> 00:32:25.379
When Perkins started that you've really had to build out to lead a team like

00:32:25.379 --> 00:32:27.459
that and to run a business like you do today.

00:32:27.719 --> 00:32:31.019
I think a lot of people get into business and they're good technically.

00:32:31.259 --> 00:32:35.319
They're great technical farmers. They're great vets, great plumbers,

00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:38.339
great accountants, but we never really learn how to run a business, do we?

00:32:38.419 --> 00:32:43.419
What are some of the skills that you've had to focus in on improving as the business has grown?

00:32:43.699 --> 00:32:48.519
It's interesting that like at 20, I knew everything. And at 30, I knew most things.

00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:54.239
And at 40, I thought I knew a bit. And at 50, I realized I know virtually nothing.

00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:58.659
So that's kind of been, I had to, lots of ways I had to get over my own ego.

00:32:59.479 --> 00:33:04.919
And my arrogance had to get taken away. I had to start to realize that I was,

00:33:05.399 --> 00:33:06.539
you know, I'm often wrong.

00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:10.999
In fact, maybe I'm usually wrong. And my arrogance didn't help a lot of our

00:33:10.999 --> 00:33:12.839
decisions and the things I did when I was younger.

00:33:12.959 --> 00:33:16.019
But luckily, I got kicked in the guts a few times from those decisions.

00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:18.859
And hopefully at least some of that arrogance got knocked out of me.

00:33:18.999 --> 00:33:21.499
So I had to learn that I was very, very fallible.

00:33:21.639 --> 00:33:26.079
And the more I've studied other businesses and people doing kind of what we

00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:28.819
do, the more I think that Mark Twain got it right when he said,

00:33:28.899 --> 00:33:32.639
it's not the things that we know that causes trouble. It's the things we know

00:33:32.639 --> 00:33:33.839
for sure that just aren't true.

00:33:34.494 --> 00:33:39.114
And that's always stuck with me because there's lots of things I just thought

00:33:39.114 --> 00:33:43.654
I was going to be right on, and I found out, yeah, the world showed me I was very, very wrong.

00:33:43.814 --> 00:33:47.254
So I had to get over my arrogance as one of the things that I had to get over.

00:33:47.434 --> 00:33:49.674
I think just keep going.

00:33:50.194 --> 00:33:54.154
It was just focus, focus, focus. You keep getting kicked in the guts,

00:33:54.214 --> 00:33:57.314
and you just keep getting up, and luckily, if you're stupid enough like me,

00:33:57.414 --> 00:34:00.214
you just keep getting up and having another go and not realizing how

00:34:00.214 --> 00:34:03.034
tough it's going to be but yeah I think I think it's focus

00:34:03.034 --> 00:34:05.814
and that's that's not always been my best thing

00:34:05.814 --> 00:34:08.834
like I love designing new products we're designing one

00:34:08.834 --> 00:34:11.654
right at the moment today the new thing that will hopefully people will

00:34:11.654 --> 00:34:14.334
see in the next three or four months but I love that sort of

00:34:14.334 --> 00:34:18.334
thing it's really fun for me it's my well I seem to be able to think different

00:34:18.334 --> 00:34:22.234
other people seem to be able to look at a problem and see it really differently

00:34:22.234 --> 00:34:27.174
to how other people do but that doesn't get sales out the door and it doesn't

00:34:27.174 --> 00:34:32.034
make those things happen so So I had to learn how to focus on,

00:34:32.534 --> 00:34:36.114
okay, we don't need another product right now designed. What we need is the products we've got.

00:34:36.334 --> 00:34:38.674
Let's commercialize them. Let's start to make them mainstream.

00:34:39.314 --> 00:34:43.114
Let's sell a hell of a lot of them to pay the bills. I had to learn the focus.

00:34:43.334 --> 00:34:46.874
And along the way, just I've had to learn to do lots of the things like,

00:34:47.254 --> 00:34:50.794
you know, I still do a lot of the stuff that we do ourselves around the sales

00:34:50.794 --> 00:34:51.854
and marketing and that sort of thing.

00:34:51.894 --> 00:34:55.374
You just do it and learn how to do it. You learn as you go. That's what I reckon.

00:34:55.994 --> 00:34:58.894
I don't know if you can be taught some of this stuff. If you just keep going

00:34:58.894 --> 00:35:01.914
and you get it wrong, then I won't do it next time. And you get it right,

00:35:02.034 --> 00:35:03.134
you think, oh, that worked. I'll try that.

00:35:03.274 --> 00:35:06.014
Poverty is a great motivator, you know. It's a great way to get through.

00:35:06.254 --> 00:35:09.274
And you just keep pushing. But I think focus is the thing.

00:35:09.474 --> 00:35:12.254
And focus is the thing that I think is keeping me going.

00:35:12.414 --> 00:35:17.394
I think one thing that I'm probably quite good at, I could be wrong here,

00:35:17.494 --> 00:35:19.694
I think I can sell people on a vision.

00:35:19.894 --> 00:35:23.574
I think I can paint a picture for people and say, man, should we try doing that?

00:35:23.794 --> 00:35:26.614
You know, that could be fun. That's got a lot of, you know, that's going to

00:35:26.614 --> 00:35:31.294
be good. so yeah I think painting the vision especially in your own head keeps you going you know,

00:35:31.982 --> 00:35:36.362
I don't know if that even answers the question, Jeremy, but that's a roundabout

00:35:36.362 --> 00:35:37.682
way of saying what I think, you know?

00:35:37.862 --> 00:35:40.322
No, there's some great insights there. Check your ego.

00:35:40.622 --> 00:35:44.742
Play with humility. Be willing to be wrong. Absolutely. But the importance of

00:35:44.742 --> 00:35:48.402
focus and not chasing bright and shiny objects. Absolutely.

00:35:48.742 --> 00:35:53.142
And there's no doubt that you've got a real strength in sales and marketing,

00:35:53.142 --> 00:35:56.122
and you're very active in that, and you do a great job of it, Wayne.

00:35:56.562 --> 00:36:00.622
What's your approach to managing and leading your team? What does Perkins do

00:36:00.622 --> 00:36:04.222
that's unique and different as you sort of build out your team over time?

00:36:04.402 --> 00:36:08.262
Well, I think when you're heavily involved in it, you see mostly your flaws

00:36:08.262 --> 00:36:11.882
and the things that you're doing wrong as an internal team that the outside don't see, you know.

00:36:12.242 --> 00:36:16.542
So, you know, I've got as many faults, more faults than most other people.

00:36:16.642 --> 00:36:20.122
So I struggle with lots of things. But I think I can get people enthusiastic.

00:36:20.562 --> 00:36:23.722
And I think if you can get people enthusiastic and sell them on the dream and

00:36:23.722 --> 00:36:25.942
say, man, this is going to be fun. Let's try this, you know.

00:36:26.202 --> 00:36:29.542
What could go wrong? Let's have a crack at it. I think that's a big part of

00:36:29.542 --> 00:36:33.482
getting there and try to make people feel good about it, you know,

00:36:33.662 --> 00:36:38.902
and try to overlook some of the stuff and congratulate some of the good stuff,

00:36:39.142 --> 00:36:42.082
you know, and I feel like a real hypocrite saying a lot of that sort of stuff.

00:36:42.222 --> 00:36:45.902
I've got a lot to learn, but yeah, I think just keep people enthused and if

00:36:45.902 --> 00:36:49.942
you can sell them on the drain and get them to buy into it and they want to

00:36:49.942 --> 00:36:53.362
see it work as well and they get a bit excited and you have a hell of a lot of fun,

00:36:53.582 --> 00:36:55.642
I think there's no substitute for having a lot of fun, you know,

00:36:55.822 --> 00:36:58.242
yeah, you've got to have fun. It's too tough otherwise.

00:36:58.542 --> 00:37:04.182
What have been some of the other key milestone growth steps or growth moments

00:37:04.182 --> 00:37:05.862
for Perkins over the years?

00:37:05.962 --> 00:37:10.242
Like we've talked about Crutchmaster and now Shearmaster, but in terms of getting

00:37:10.242 --> 00:37:14.562
those to market and getting momentum around their success, what have been some

00:37:14.562 --> 00:37:16.022
of the other key milestone moments?

00:37:16.222 --> 00:37:19.662
It's probably more some of the breakthroughs that we made with some of those

00:37:19.662 --> 00:37:20.862
things to get them there.

00:37:21.162 --> 00:37:25.582
Like there was one particular time, and this leads into the Shearmaster,

00:37:25.722 --> 00:37:30.082
right? And no one sort of knows this because you can't sell a system on what

00:37:30.082 --> 00:37:31.362
you think it's going to do.

00:37:31.522 --> 00:37:35.422
We sell the system. Okay. We know the Shear Master is good to share on.

00:37:35.622 --> 00:37:37.602
We know it's good that you can, you know, people already can,

00:37:37.762 --> 00:37:41.642
we've got 400 trailers out there with Crutch Masters cradles on them.

00:37:41.902 --> 00:37:44.742
There's Crutch Master cradles on a Shear Master. We can tell you that you can

00:37:44.742 --> 00:37:48.002
do that, you know, so that we can sell the system with those benefits.

00:37:48.162 --> 00:37:51.442
But there's some things about the Shear Master that people don't know about

00:37:51.442 --> 00:37:55.082
that are coming that I think are exciting. So a lot of it has been,

00:37:55.362 --> 00:37:58.922
I remember this particular time I was sitting there and I'd been working on

00:37:58.922 --> 00:38:02.562
this upright sheep shearing system and I just want 220 a day on it.

00:38:02.807 --> 00:38:05.167
First day I used it. And I think, you know, that's pretty good.

00:38:05.287 --> 00:38:09.147
That probably stands pretty well today, but I couldn't figure out how to commercialize it.

00:38:09.387 --> 00:38:12.747
I just couldn't figure it out because there's all this infrastructure needed

00:38:12.747 --> 00:38:15.487
around it. It's not intuitive for sharers.

00:38:15.647 --> 00:38:19.687
I could, I could go well on it, but it was gonna, it was gonna be hard yucky, you know?

00:38:19.907 --> 00:38:22.967
And so I was thinking, oh, I wonder could I, I wonder could I do it easier?

00:38:23.067 --> 00:38:24.187
I wonder could I make it simpler?

00:38:24.427 --> 00:38:28.347
And I seem to have the sort of mind that, you know, like engineers.

00:38:28.627 --> 00:38:34.207
Bloody engineers, They have this attitude, you know, why have one weld if two welds will do?

00:38:34.447 --> 00:38:37.127
Well, I have the other one. I'm thinking, why have two welds if one weld will

00:38:37.127 --> 00:38:40.407
do? You know, why bend a piece of metal twice if you can bend it once?

00:38:40.687 --> 00:38:43.427
So everything I do around design is trying to make it simpler.

00:38:43.427 --> 00:38:46.147
So you come up with the idea of saying, okay, but how do we make it simpler?

00:38:46.227 --> 00:38:50.907
How do we get back to first principles of the bare minimum that you can do to

00:38:50.907 --> 00:38:52.627
make the system still work really efficiently?

00:38:52.827 --> 00:38:56.307
So I've been looking at the sharing system, and I'd done 220 on it,

00:38:56.387 --> 00:38:57.767
and I'm pretty proud of that.

00:38:57.767 --> 00:39:00.467
And we've still got it sitting there and I've seen other people do something

00:39:00.467 --> 00:39:02.127
very similar to that there and I

00:39:02.127 --> 00:39:05.447
was trying to figure out how to make it simpler and I just sat there on a.

00:39:05.827 --> 00:39:10.467
Drench drum on a farmer's wool shed just sort of looking at some sheep, Kiwis you see,

00:39:10.807 --> 00:39:12.927
looking at some sheep for about three or four hours and then it just hit me

00:39:12.927 --> 00:39:15.667
so I knocked up this thing with about 70 bucks worth of pipe and the end of

00:39:15.667 --> 00:39:19.007
a spade and I went out and put it into a wool shed and saw 220 on that thing

00:39:19.007 --> 00:39:22.787
in an existing wool sheet and it had the same problem that the problem I had

00:39:22.787 --> 00:39:25.527
with that is that we didn't know how to sell it and make any money out of the

00:39:25.527 --> 00:39:27.087
damn thing because it was too simple.

00:39:27.567 --> 00:39:32.467
So those are little key moments. Now, I haven't done anything with those things

00:39:32.467 --> 00:39:36.707
because the infrastructure around it and the risk for someone to take an upright

00:39:36.707 --> 00:39:38.987
sharing system on when you don't know,

00:39:39.227 --> 00:39:42.707
you're not only going about how well it's going to be taken up, but,

00:39:43.209 --> 00:39:46.169
I suspect there'll be a lot of pushback from traditional sharers.

00:39:46.289 --> 00:39:47.709
We already see that on a crutching system.

00:39:47.949 --> 00:39:50.249
For a long time, people just said, oh, your systems don't work.

00:39:50.349 --> 00:39:53.809
And, you know, you get more and more of them out there doing tellies that no

00:39:53.809 --> 00:39:55.689
one else in the shed can do. And people still say they don't work.

00:39:56.149 --> 00:39:59.369
It'll be a hell of a lot harder in sharing to do that. But I've always had these

00:39:59.369 --> 00:40:02.189
two upright sharing systems that I know about.

00:40:02.489 --> 00:40:05.929
No one else really knows about them. But I never knew how to commercialize them.

00:40:06.229 --> 00:40:09.889
And then when we designed the share master with the sharing board that goes

00:40:09.889 --> 00:40:11.289
up and down individually.

00:40:11.889 --> 00:40:14.889
I remember, and if I was bright, I would have known this, and this would have

00:40:14.889 --> 00:40:18.129
been part of the design process. But I'm not bright, okay?

00:40:18.329 --> 00:40:21.429
But I was just sitting there looking at it, thinking, hell, actually, you know what?

00:40:21.569 --> 00:40:25.389
I've kind of solved that original problem I had back then, because now we can

00:40:25.389 --> 00:40:28.469
put a shearing ball down with that for a crutch and cradle, but I can actually

00:40:28.469 --> 00:40:30.149
drop one of these shearing cradles right there.

00:40:30.289 --> 00:40:33.049
So, we've actually designed an upright shearing system here,

00:40:33.129 --> 00:40:34.709
that all the infrastructure is there.

00:40:34.889 --> 00:40:38.469
So, the farmer doesn't need to buy all the stuff for an upright shearing system.

00:40:38.669 --> 00:40:44.229
He needs to buy a a shearing cradle for, you know, maybe a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.

00:40:44.449 --> 00:40:46.889
All the rest of the structure's there. He can put it on one stand.

00:40:47.109 --> 00:40:49.429
Doesn't affect anyone else if no one else wants to use it.

00:40:49.729 --> 00:40:53.629
So I thought, you know what? We've got a way to now commercialize this with

00:40:53.629 --> 00:40:56.089
no risk, really, to the farmers that have got our sharemasters.

00:40:56.249 --> 00:41:00.409
And we get to attack and see how we do it without pissing off everyone else

00:41:00.409 --> 00:41:02.329
in the shed and see how we go.

00:41:02.409 --> 00:41:05.629
And hopefully we can get one stand going and then next year we might get two or three.

00:41:05.949 --> 00:41:09.709
So that's kind of one of those things that was, you know, you have a few of

00:41:09.709 --> 00:41:12.949
those ah aha moments that, and I don't really know where they come from.

00:41:13.049 --> 00:41:16.329
It's not from brains or cleverness, it's just desperation maybe.

00:41:16.469 --> 00:41:20.149
But I still think that was a key milestone is those upright sharing platforms.

00:41:20.429 --> 00:41:23.449
And then realizing, you know, over a decade later, you know what,

00:41:23.549 --> 00:41:26.869
actually, we've actually solved the problem without realizing how to commercialize them now.

00:41:27.129 --> 00:41:31.349
And so obviously, that's something that people are going to see and can't make

00:41:31.349 --> 00:41:33.189
you rip on what you're going to do. Let's see how we go.

00:41:33.329 --> 00:41:35.689
And no one knows this about the Shear Master because we don't sell it saying

00:41:35.689 --> 00:41:38.909
it's going to be an upright sharing platform because that's not fair because we might fail. Yeah.

00:41:39.089 --> 00:41:42.229
I don't think I'd be against this right now with what I know.

00:41:42.529 --> 00:41:46.689
I'd say. I think if the answer was obvious, we would have solved it already.

00:41:46.829 --> 00:41:51.229
And it takes someone like you with that focus and that determination to stay

00:41:51.229 --> 00:41:57.749
on the problem for long enough to critically think through the hundreds or thousands

00:41:57.749 --> 00:42:02.089
of iterations before you arrive to a solution that can be commercial.

00:42:02.269 --> 00:42:06.369
And I don't think it is at all about intellect. I think you play yourself short.

00:42:06.749 --> 00:42:11.729
But you've obviously applied thinking to it long enough and considered hundreds

00:42:11.729 --> 00:42:18.189
plus of scenarios to cover a way to get it done where so many others haven't

00:42:18.189 --> 00:42:20.549
been able to find that solution.

00:42:20.749 --> 00:42:24.149
I'd like to do it. I always thought, man, it'd be fun to do that.

00:42:24.429 --> 00:42:27.929
It'd be nice to be able to make shearing easier, make it better for the farmer,

00:42:27.989 --> 00:42:29.089
the sheep and the shearer.

00:42:29.249 --> 00:42:32.589
And so for some reason, it's something that still makes me excited,

00:42:32.729 --> 00:42:36.589
especially now as I feel like we've got a real chance we've now got a share

00:42:36.589 --> 00:42:37.809
master system that we can,

00:42:38.402 --> 00:42:41.682
take a lot of the risk away for a farmer and a share of trying this.

00:42:41.922 --> 00:42:46.002
I think we've got a good a chance as anyone, maybe better than most.

00:42:46.142 --> 00:42:50.202
It's definitely just taking focus, you know, just keep focusing and focusing

00:42:50.202 --> 00:42:54.282
and failing and focusing and just, I'm good at it. I'm really good at failing.

00:42:54.402 --> 00:42:55.242
I've turned it into an art form.

00:42:55.562 --> 00:43:00.122
Edison, how many attempts at the light bulb were there? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

00:43:00.382 --> 00:43:04.182
Yeah. So I've had a few of those moments in Perkins and one was when I.

00:43:04.582 --> 00:43:07.422
Developed that really simple sharing system that was

00:43:07.422 --> 00:43:10.062
just does it so differently you wouldn't even think about it and

00:43:10.062 --> 00:43:12.922
i don't even know how i thought of it and and it just and i

00:43:12.922 --> 00:43:15.722
tried it the damn thing works you know now it's not perfect it's

00:43:15.722 --> 00:43:18.662
far from perfect but it was perfect enough or good enough

00:43:18.662 --> 00:43:21.482
that you could see there was a future on it and then the other thing

00:43:21.482 --> 00:43:24.702
when i was looking at the share master and you know what damn it we've actually we've

00:43:24.702 --> 00:43:27.542
actually now created a system where we can commercialize these

00:43:27.542 --> 00:43:30.402
things that i thought might have been able to be what's um what's your

00:43:30.402 --> 00:43:33.662
comment on driving behavioral change so

00:43:33.662 --> 00:43:36.322
with that system how is it sort of

00:43:36.322 --> 00:43:39.282
having shearers unlearn and then relearn how

00:43:39.282 --> 00:43:42.442
to use your crutching system but now a stand-up shearing

00:43:42.442 --> 00:43:47.662
system what's your comment on on how to best impact and change behaviors yeah

00:43:47.662 --> 00:43:51.762
can we go to the next question no no no it's it's been hell with the crutch

00:43:51.762 --> 00:43:55.822
master to be honest we've found that non-shearers have adapted to our crutch

00:43:55.822 --> 00:43:59.902
master a hell of a lot easier than shearers none of us criticism of sharers. I love sharers.

00:44:00.222 --> 00:44:03.682
I consider myself a sharer, you know, and I get why, because we're trying to

00:44:03.682 --> 00:44:04.442
put them onto something.

00:44:04.622 --> 00:44:06.802
You know, you've crutched half a million sheep in a wool sheep.

00:44:06.902 --> 00:44:09.562
You know what you're doing. It's pretty easy. And then some prick comes along

00:44:09.562 --> 00:44:11.982
and says, now I want you to do it this way. And it's uncomfortable.

00:44:12.302 --> 00:44:15.722
Whereas if you don't have that knowledge, you jump on a crutch master system.

00:44:15.962 --> 00:44:18.222
And the people that have only been on a crutch master system,

00:44:18.342 --> 00:44:21.602
they just can't fathom why people would bend over to crutch a sheep.

00:44:21.742 --> 00:44:22.982
It makes no sense to them, you see.

00:44:23.302 --> 00:44:26.122
But it was really tough. I can remember one

00:44:26.122 --> 00:44:29.022
time we had a crutch master trailer outside a shed

00:44:29.022 --> 00:44:31.662
there was four or five crutches inside the shed we were on

00:44:31.662 --> 00:44:34.682
a crutch master outside we're in shorts and sneakers

00:44:34.682 --> 00:44:37.402
and and having a good time and they were all

00:44:37.402 --> 00:44:41.062
inside crutch and sheep same sheep we're probably doing maybe 30 more than what

00:44:41.062 --> 00:44:44.962
they were run you know each which is a lot and they'd come out and say oh that

00:44:44.962 --> 00:44:48.782
bloody thing doesn't work and i thought i mean look in the telly box you can't

00:44:48.782 --> 00:44:52.262
sound like work but that's that was the mentality we got from a lot of people

00:44:52.262 --> 00:44:55.602
now we don't get that now because eventually you get enough from there that

00:44:55.602 --> 00:44:57.142
people just have to accept that it works.

00:44:57.382 --> 00:45:00.742
They might accept that it doesn't work for them, but they can't accept that

00:45:00.742 --> 00:45:03.242
it doesn't work because it's too widespread, you know?

00:45:03.362 --> 00:45:06.422
So I suspect the sharing system would be like that. I think most sharers will

00:45:06.422 --> 00:45:10.342
look and think, oh, that's a dumb idea, that doesn't like, I can do it so much easier.

00:45:11.152 --> 00:45:14.232
But there will be some people, and they might be small numbers,

00:45:14.432 --> 00:45:17.532
that will say, I want to try that because, you know, my back's no good or I

00:45:17.532 --> 00:45:18.272
want to try something else.

00:45:18.412 --> 00:45:21.832
And some people are just naturally, they might not be very good sharers,

00:45:21.912 --> 00:45:25.312
but they might be able to pick this up quite quick. It just depends on a mindset.

00:45:25.572 --> 00:45:29.652
And I think it will start slow and it'll be a really slow slog.

00:45:29.732 --> 00:45:31.452
It took a long time with the Crutch Master.

00:45:31.652 --> 00:45:34.952
I think it'll just about be harder with the Shear Master. That's depending if

00:45:34.952 --> 00:45:36.212
that's the way that goes, you know.

00:45:36.452 --> 00:45:39.272
Yeah, but I think it'll be a tough gig. I think it'll be a tough gig,

00:45:39.432 --> 00:45:42.572
but I think something needs to happen. you know, something needs to happen.

00:45:42.792 --> 00:45:46.432
I'm sitting there with my back screwed and, you know, my hips are buggered and that sort of thing.

00:45:46.552 --> 00:45:49.692
So if we can, if we can make it a bit easier for somebody else that they're

00:45:49.692 --> 00:45:52.812
sharing, they don't have to go through all that, their back being buggered and

00:45:52.812 --> 00:45:54.372
that sort of thing. That's got to be a good thing.

00:45:54.652 --> 00:45:59.752
I think it has to happen. Wayne, you mentioned before your vision and that you're still locked in on it.

00:45:59.972 --> 00:46:05.032
What's the impact that you want to have on this industry in your lifetime?

00:46:05.392 --> 00:46:09.512
We're, we're pretty, we're pretty keen to grow. We're looking at markets outside

00:46:09.512 --> 00:46:11.772
of Australia now for various things.

00:46:11.992 --> 00:46:16.592
We want to grow the business around the sheep hunting and the solar water globally.

00:46:16.772 --> 00:46:19.832
We think that'll be a lot of fun. It'll be challenging, but it'll be fun.

00:46:19.952 --> 00:46:23.632
I'm very keen to, I think, get the upright sharing started.

00:46:23.812 --> 00:46:27.412
I think it'll take a long time. I'm not convinced that I'd like to be the one

00:46:27.412 --> 00:46:30.612
that helped change it, but I don't think we'll be the one that changes it.

00:46:30.732 --> 00:46:35.192
I think we might be helpful along the way, you know, of getting there because

00:46:35.192 --> 00:46:38.752
I think there'll be other people do things and they'll be smarter or have better

00:46:38.752 --> 00:46:39.832
ideas than what we've got.

00:46:40.272 --> 00:46:44.852
I might now be too entrenched in the thinking to make it really good.

00:46:45.012 --> 00:46:50.912
Yeah, I'd like to get a lot more share masters out there and to turn up and

00:46:50.912 --> 00:46:53.832
see that there's a couple of upright sharing platforms working on a six-stand

00:46:53.832 --> 00:46:56.932
share master and they're getting better and they're learning as they go and

00:46:56.932 --> 00:46:58.932
they're figuring out blow patterns and all that sort of stuff.

00:46:59.072 --> 00:47:03.292
And we're giving options for people that don't need to go through the back pain,

00:47:03.532 --> 00:47:05.632
that don't need to wear a bungee and they jump on them.

00:47:05.712 --> 00:47:08.812
Maybe they don't need to have the same level of skill as a sharer.

00:47:09.152 --> 00:47:12.312
And we can make it so that instead of taking a year to get good at shearing,

00:47:12.452 --> 00:47:15.092
maybe we can make it, they can do it and lock them up, which has got to be good.

00:47:15.852 --> 00:47:20.092
That's what I'd like to see happen. How can farmers listening lean in and help?

00:47:20.252 --> 00:47:23.212
Well, they can all turn up and buy a sharemaster off meat.

00:47:23.612 --> 00:47:26.892
This year, that'll be bloody helpful. That'll give us a few funds to try some things.

00:47:27.172 --> 00:47:30.892
No, I just think farmers will buy things when they need to buy them.

00:47:31.052 --> 00:47:33.852
We have to do things right. We have to build good systems.

00:47:34.032 --> 00:47:36.352
We have to have good cost-effective products,

00:47:36.872 --> 00:47:40.972
that do the job, we have to keep innovating, which is probably not a problem

00:47:40.972 --> 00:47:44.292
we've got, as you're going to see, and, you know, we're constantly trying to

00:47:44.292 --> 00:47:45.492
innovate and make things better.

00:47:45.692 --> 00:47:49.972
Yeah. I guess my big worry, Jeremy, and this is, we pivoted to the soul of water

00:47:49.972 --> 00:47:51.992
pumping, and, you know, I think that's going to be a pretty big part of the

00:47:51.992 --> 00:47:54.132
Perkins business because we seem to be good at it.

00:47:54.312 --> 00:47:58.732
It's got a really big, broad market, and it's, you know, you're not stuck to

00:47:58.732 --> 00:48:02.612
a particular industry, and everyone needs water, you know, but the state of

00:48:02.612 --> 00:48:05.872
play over here in the industry is, or we haven't sold a Shear Master in New Zealand yet.

00:48:05.952 --> 00:48:09.232
Now, I think that one over there, it's either the 13th or 14th one that's going

00:48:09.232 --> 00:48:10.612
to Aussie. We haven't sold one in New Zealand.

00:48:10.792 --> 00:48:14.092
And we've had a few people want them, but they're not making any money.

00:48:14.192 --> 00:48:15.692
They've got no confidence in wool.

00:48:16.032 --> 00:48:20.312
I'm more worried about the state of the sheep industry, less so in Australia.

00:48:20.532 --> 00:48:24.392
I'm more worried about the state of the wool industry having a bigger impact

00:48:24.392 --> 00:48:27.612
on what we can do with Perkins than our ability to execute what we want to do.

00:48:28.272 --> 00:48:32.612
We've got some pretty good systems that are well, Even our share master is well-proven

00:48:32.612 --> 00:48:34.472
now. We've got sharers jumping on it. They love it.

00:48:34.832 --> 00:48:37.912
They're telling the farmers, the neighbours buying one. I'd say that we're probably

00:48:37.912 --> 00:48:39.112
going to sell quite a few of them.

00:48:39.492 --> 00:48:43.632
I'm pretty optimistic. But we won't if the farmers aren't making any money.

00:48:43.732 --> 00:48:46.652
If they're not making any money out of their wool or their sheep.

00:48:46.832 --> 00:48:48.752
I'm quite concerned about the wool industry.

00:48:49.132 --> 00:48:53.432
I think wool's not equal, is it? You've got fine wool and you've got strong

00:48:53.432 --> 00:48:55.912
wool. Now, fine wool is a great product.

00:48:56.452 --> 00:49:00.532
You can pay a farmer 20 bucks for it and some multi-sporter like my wife will

00:49:00.532 --> 00:49:04.712
buy it as the $100, $120 top and feel really happy to get it.

00:49:05.338 --> 00:49:09.918
We can't do that with strong wool. So I'm worried about the state of the wool industry.

00:49:10.158 --> 00:49:13.158
Are the farmers going to make enough money? Like over here in New Zealand,

00:49:13.298 --> 00:49:14.898
we've got people pivoting to pines.

00:49:15.038 --> 00:49:18.158
There's a lot of pines going on. I think we've had a 20% reduction in sheep

00:49:18.158 --> 00:49:20.138
numbers here in New Zealand in the last wee while.

00:49:20.478 --> 00:49:23.678
That's pretty big. It doesn't give anyone confidence to want to buy any of our

00:49:23.678 --> 00:49:24.678
products in sheep handling.

00:49:24.858 --> 00:49:29.458
And so I'm quite concerned about not our ability to execute or how good our

00:49:29.458 --> 00:49:32.498
products are, but are we going to have a market to sell the damn things into?

00:49:33.038 --> 00:49:36.178
It worries me. It really does. The New Zealand government over here,

00:49:36.518 --> 00:49:40.198
and this got a lot of kudos and some of your listeners might know it,

00:49:40.278 --> 00:49:44.058
they mandated that a lot of the government departments, they're going to have to put wool in.

00:49:44.238 --> 00:49:47.838
And everyone over here was applauding and I thought, you know, I don't know about that.

00:49:48.038 --> 00:49:51.378
Because if the product's any damn good, surely it sells itself.

00:49:51.618 --> 00:49:55.158
If a government's got a mandate that they want to put wool carpets in,

00:49:55.278 --> 00:49:57.118
I'm not convinced we've got a good product.

00:49:57.298 --> 00:50:01.258
And I want wool to work. I'm not knocking wool, but I'm worried about,

00:50:01.598 --> 00:50:06.958
have we got a place for strong wool that's going to keep people in strong wool? And I don't know.

00:50:07.658 --> 00:50:11.958
I mean, what do you guys think? What's the feeling in Aussie around that? I think similar.

00:50:12.238 --> 00:50:17.218
There's concern about the wool price and the demand for the final wool,

00:50:17.278 --> 00:50:20.858
but there is that massive trend towards meat sheep. Isn't there a way from wool sheep?

00:50:21.178 --> 00:50:26.798
And with that comes probably an oversupply of the coarser microns and limited

00:50:26.798 --> 00:50:31.658
markets. So I think it's a challenging time for the industry, absolutely.

00:50:32.458 --> 00:50:34.998
Like I was down at the rugby here, we play rugby in New Zealand,

00:50:35.078 --> 00:50:38.578
not that game that you guys play over there. Mind you, your way you'd probably

00:50:38.578 --> 00:50:39.538
play a bit of rugby, don't they?

00:50:40.198 --> 00:50:43.278
We all do, don't you worry. Yeah, yeah, good, good, that's good,

00:50:43.398 --> 00:50:44.838
safe ground. Long live the Wallabies.

00:50:45.038 --> 00:50:48.278
But I was down at the rugby this last weekend and I was sitting there beside

00:50:48.278 --> 00:50:52.298
a farmer and I naturally like to talk about, well, because I've been trying

00:50:52.298 --> 00:50:53.058
to figure this out about,

00:50:53.218 --> 00:50:55.478
well, this is something that I've been starting to get more and more concerned

00:50:55.478 --> 00:50:58.498
about and investigate more and more and get my head around over the last two

00:50:58.498 --> 00:51:01.938
years because I was talking to one of the farmers there and he's sitting beside me on the sidelines,

00:51:02.538 --> 00:51:06.118
and I was saying, you know, how'd you all go this year? He's got crossbreds, you know, strong.

00:51:06.358 --> 00:51:09.698
How'd you all go? And said, you know, better than last year but it just paid

00:51:09.698 --> 00:51:11.238
for my sharing, you know, there's no money in it.

00:51:11.900 --> 00:51:14.540
And I said, what do you think the future of strong wool is? And he said,

00:51:14.620 --> 00:51:16.960
well, he said, everyone's saying this and that about it.

00:51:17.080 --> 00:51:21.600
But he said, we are wool producers. So we made a decision to put wool carpet

00:51:21.600 --> 00:51:24.860
in our house about 10 years ago because we want to support the industry.

00:51:25.020 --> 00:51:28.140
And it lasted five years. And it faded and it wore.

00:51:28.300 --> 00:51:30.560
And then we ripped it out and we put synthetics in.

00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:34.240
And man, it's been a good move. And this is a guy who wants wool to work.

00:51:34.380 --> 00:51:36.760
And I've heard multiple people tell me that.

00:51:37.240 --> 00:51:41.460
Farmers say that. And then in the same day, I listened to my wife and her friends

00:51:41.460 --> 00:51:43.540
who are multi-sporters do Ironmans and that sort of thing.

00:51:44.040 --> 00:51:47.120
Couldn't wait to go and buy some more Marino gear. Just couldn't wait.

00:51:47.280 --> 00:51:50.960
Like it was enthusiastically wanting to go and spend money to buy Marino gear.

00:51:51.140 --> 00:51:52.140
I thought, man, what a difference.

00:51:52.340 --> 00:51:56.680
I am worried that if we don't front up to the strong wool thing,

00:51:56.840 --> 00:51:58.240
are we living in a delusion?

00:51:58.460 --> 00:52:01.040
And there is no point in just living in a delusion. You can't,

00:52:01.180 --> 00:52:03.440
when ideology meets reality, reality wins.

00:52:03.660 --> 00:52:07.480
And if the strong wool, is it a good product? Everyone tells me that it's environmental

00:52:07.480 --> 00:52:09.180
and sustainable, and I agree with those things.

00:52:09.440 --> 00:52:13.480
It doesn't seem to force people's buying preference as much as what they say,

00:52:13.600 --> 00:52:16.160
but is strong wool product a good product?

00:52:16.340 --> 00:52:22.680
I can't see the thing at the moment that makes me think it's got a big lift of a future.

00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:26.600
It might still carry on. It might be good. And man, I hope I'm wrong.

00:52:26.840 --> 00:52:30.520
No one happier than me if I've got this completely wrong. I think we need a

00:52:30.520 --> 00:52:35.060
product that we can take that strong wool and we can do millions of tons of it.

00:52:35.060 --> 00:52:37.940
Okay millions of kilos of it at high value and

00:52:37.940 --> 00:52:41.140
i don't yet know what that product is well there are synthetic

00:52:41.140 --> 00:52:44.100
and cost-effective alternatives to the strong law

00:52:44.100 --> 00:52:48.000
yeah niche isn't yeah and there's tell you what there's lots of people doing

00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:51.820
good stuff with wool over here and and like good on them and there's but it's

00:52:51.820 --> 00:52:55.540
all very small scale like there's you know someone's doing pillows out you know

00:52:55.540 --> 00:52:59.200
they're sharing their own sheep and making pillows and but none of it's scale

00:52:59.200 --> 00:53:03.460
like none of it's going to take millions of kilos yeah and it's it's not giving value i mean.

00:53:04.069 --> 00:53:06.949
One of the big innovations at the Mystery Creek Field Days a couple of years

00:53:06.949 --> 00:53:10.489
ago was some wool matting, basically to put around for wean mats.

00:53:10.669 --> 00:53:14.489
No one's going to give a farmer good money for that strong wool to create wool matting, are they?

00:53:15.189 --> 00:53:19.889
So I'm concerned. My biggest worry at the moment for the Perkins sheep-handling

00:53:19.889 --> 00:53:23.409
side of the business is not Perkins. It's the state of the industry.

00:53:24.149 --> 00:53:29.669
Man, I hope I'm wrong. Fair comments. And well played to look to complement

00:53:29.669 --> 00:53:34.769
and diversify your business model. I think that's something we're working on with our members often.

00:53:34.989 --> 00:53:39.049
Just to round this out, and I really appreciate your time, what do you reflect

00:53:39.049 --> 00:53:44.729
on that you're most proud of for the innovation and the entrepreneurial journey that you've been on?

00:53:45.149 --> 00:53:48.429
I don't know. Look, I'm kind of proud of Perkins and the brand.

00:53:48.509 --> 00:53:52.249
It's nice to turn up somewhere or be driving down somewhere in Australia and

00:53:52.249 --> 00:53:55.969
you see a crutch and trailer go past it, you know, I've probably designed it, that's kind of cool.

00:53:56.129 --> 00:53:59.209
Or to turn up at a new shed with a share master and you think,

00:53:59.329 --> 00:54:02.069
oh, look at that, man, that's cool. and you jump on and you share a seat for

00:54:02.069 --> 00:54:04.389
one of the boys and they know you're not just a shiny ass.

00:54:04.529 --> 00:54:07.149
They give you a bit of respect after you jump on and share a seat for them.

00:54:07.309 --> 00:54:10.209
So that's kind of cool to see that. I'm kind of proud of the products.

00:54:10.329 --> 00:54:13.589
I'm proud of the way that we've done it. I think it's been really, really challenging.

00:54:13.789 --> 00:54:18.529
I think we've all had a lot of, it's just been a really, really tough, tough gig.

00:54:18.729 --> 00:54:21.029
Way tougher than I thought it was going to be. It's been a hell of a lot of

00:54:21.029 --> 00:54:22.409
fun. And man, I've met some good people, you know.

00:54:22.849 --> 00:54:26.469
I've met that many good people that have become really, really, really good friends.

00:54:26.769 --> 00:54:31.049
And just, yeah, so, I don't know. I still obviously think it's fun and I still

00:54:31.049 --> 00:54:33.729
obviously want to do it because I'm sitting here at night with a dark outside

00:54:33.729 --> 00:54:35.489
talking to you trying to promote it, mates.

00:54:36.109 --> 00:54:39.349
Well, thank you, mate. I appreciate it. Last question. What would you say to

00:54:39.349 --> 00:54:44.189
that young budding entrepreneur that might be in their mid-20s having a crack

00:54:44.189 --> 00:54:47.889
at an innovation and in the early days and finding it tough?

00:54:48.029 --> 00:54:50.829
What's your tip of advice to keep them going?

00:54:50.989 --> 00:54:55.449
I guess you've got to see if it's what you really want to do because it's a tough gig.

00:54:55.589 --> 00:54:58.149
So you've got to have, there's got to be something that drives the show. you've got

00:54:58.149 --> 00:55:00.769
to have a pretty solid vision of do you actually want to do it

00:55:00.769 --> 00:55:03.409
you've got to make sure that the ladder you're climbing is on the wall that you

00:55:03.409 --> 00:55:06.169
want it to be on but I remember back when I started I

00:55:06.169 --> 00:55:09.349
was watching this documentary on TV and it

00:55:09.349 --> 00:55:12.849
was about super yachts coming into Auckland for the America's Cup and they were

00:55:12.849 --> 00:55:15.409
interviewing this old well he seemed old to me at the time I would have been

00:55:15.409 --> 00:55:18.589
35 or whatever I can't remember but they interviewed this who I thought was

00:55:18.589 --> 00:55:21.309
an old guy and they said he was like a billionaire and they said how come how

00:55:21.309 --> 00:55:24.109
come you made it you know how did you get to where and he said oh well to be

00:55:24.109 --> 00:55:26.709
honest he said all my mates talked about it, I just had a go.

00:55:27.129 --> 00:55:30.829
And so I remember being very struck by that and thought, I'll have a go,

00:55:30.889 --> 00:55:34.309
which is kind of a little bit the way me old man brought me up, you know, just have a go.

00:55:34.793 --> 00:55:39.193
So, you know, protect the downside, protect the downside, don't get screwed

00:55:39.193 --> 00:55:44.013
over like I did with and end up having no money, but protect the downside, have a crack at it.

00:55:44.113 --> 00:55:46.733
As the old saying goes, if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise,

00:55:46.873 --> 00:55:47.873
you just might make it, you know?

00:55:48.113 --> 00:55:50.493
So yeah, have a go and keep focus.

00:55:50.893 --> 00:55:54.053
Just keep focus. Yeah. And keep it all in perspective and have a lot of fun

00:55:54.053 --> 00:55:57.473
and just at the end of the day, it ain't actually that big a deal or that important, you know?

00:55:57.613 --> 00:56:00.513
Wayne, great to connect and great to share the Perkins story.

00:56:00.513 --> 00:56:06.633
It is solving an important problem in an important industry in our respective countries.

00:56:06.853 --> 00:56:10.033
So well done for your persistence and thank you for your pioneering.

00:56:10.393 --> 00:56:13.273
Thank you. Appreciate it. It's been a lot of fun. Hopefully it was interesting

00:56:13.273 --> 00:56:14.253
to your listeners and to you.

00:56:14.653 --> 00:56:16.633
Yeah, really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thanks, Wayne.

00:56:16.773 --> 00:56:18.073
Thanks so much for your time. Cheers.

00:56:21.173 --> 00:56:24.033
And there you have it, folks. Incredible to connect with you, Wayne.

00:56:24.213 --> 00:56:29.473
Thank you to hear the Perkins story and to reflect on just how tough the entrepreneurial

00:56:29.473 --> 00:56:34.253
journey is and just to commend you on your persistence and your focus and your

00:56:34.253 --> 00:56:39.553
pioneering as you go about solving a really important problem for shearers and

00:56:39.553 --> 00:56:41.613
for the sheep and wool industry.

00:56:41.813 --> 00:56:45.233
A reminder on the importance of having a clear vision,

00:56:45.633 --> 00:56:51.893
of persisting, of having focus and of being willing to park your ego and be

00:56:51.893 --> 00:56:54.873
willing to fail and learn from those mistakes,

00:56:55.133 --> 00:56:58.733
take on the feedback from your consumers and keep pioneering,

00:56:58.913 --> 00:57:02.093
keep reinventing, keep adapting and keep innovating.

00:57:02.333 --> 00:57:06.593
So to those entrepreneurs out there that are in the early stages of doing something

00:57:06.593 --> 00:57:11.813
really significant, I hope you've found Wayne's story inspiring and worthwhile.

00:57:12.133 --> 00:57:14.933
Take care, everyone. Thank you and bye for now.

00:57:21.073 --> 00:57:25.893
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Profitable Farmer podcast by Farm Owners Academy.

00:57:26.193 --> 00:57:29.973
If you're new to this show, be sure to follow us. If you've been a long time

00:57:29.973 --> 00:57:34.693
listener, let your friends know about us or come continue the conversation in

00:57:34.693 --> 00:57:36.413
the Profitable Farmer Facebook group.

00:57:36.613 --> 00:57:40.093
All the best as you grow your business and create your freedom farm.

00:57:40.313 --> 00:57:42.633
Until next time, keep being incredible.

Episode 168 - A Shout-Out to the Great Work of Agri-Entrepreneurs - The Wayne Perkinz Story

Subscribe to our Weekly Blog & Podcast!