Shearing at Telopea Downs on the SA-Vic border has been a long, drawn out process for AJ&PA McBride, often taking months to shear 60,000 sheep and lambs across six sheds.
But when the 2024 shearing commences in mid August, it is expected to be a much shorter experience, even with the flock growth.
Much of it will occur in a new 12-stand shearing shed recently completed at their Eureka property.
About 2500 head can be penned undercover in the new curved raised board shed.
Other facilities include toilets, a lunch room and an enclosed grinding room, as well as storage for 300 bales.
AJ&PA McBride bought the 47,000-hectare aggregation from Hassad Australia in 2018 - a big step in the board's goal of producing 10,000 bales of wool a year.
Chairman Nick McBride says the family-owned company never thought they would make a purchase on such a scale, paying more than $70 million walk in-walk out for Telopea Downs, but they took a "leap of faith" which is paying off.
This year's wool clip across their 12 properties, including Keilira Station bought last year, is expected to be about 8500 bales, 2000 of which will come from Telopea Downs.
"When we got here there were 15,000 Merinos and 10,000 self shedders, mainly Awassi, as well as 12,000ha of crop, " he said.
"We got rid of the shedders and put on another 25,000 Merinos and Drew (Telopea Downs manager Drew Maxwell) is now shearing 85,000 sheep.
"This year, depending on lambing, we could be heading towards 100,000 sheep."
The earthworks for the new shearing shed were undertaken in August, with a bulldozer levelling a hill. They broke ground on the shed in the first week of September.
The Telopea Downs shed has been modelled on the 12-stand shearing shed at one of their South East properties, Konetta, which was built in 2011.
They have used the same shed builder - Greg Kendrick from Shearing Sheds and Rural Construction at Tintinara - although they have made the shed slightly longer than Konetta's.
The shed's dimensions are 48 metres long by 40m wide. The catching pens also have a greater slope to make dragging the sheep onto the boards easier and there is a laneway from the front to the back of the shed so workers are not climbing through the sheep.
Mr McBride says the shearing shed honours their commitment to ensure they have the best facilities to attract and retain shearers.
"At the time we built Konetta everyone said why would you build a shearing shed after 20 years in the doldrums? Ever since then, it has been visited and copied upon," he said.
"Has it worked? Absolutely it has, with 50,000 sheep shorn at Konetta."
McBride chief executive officer Nathan Wessling acknowledged after a strong decade for agriculture, the sheep and wool industry was again in tough times, with Australian wool prices among the cheapest they have ever been in US dollars.
"There are some market headwinds, including the draft environmental legislation in Europe saying that synthetics are more sustainable than wool, which we are fighting," he said.
But Mr Wessling said wool remains the McBride family's primary enterprise and the company's "commitment to the industry runs deep".
Mr Maxwell says the shearing shed will be a "gamechanger".
"Two years ago, with the wet summer, we shore for 23 weeks and last year we only lost 2.5 days, but we still went for 15 weeks with four six-stand sheds we use," he said.
"Now we will have a 12-stand going here and another six-stand, so I am hoping it can cut it down to eight weeks."
Mr Maxwell had high praise for the businesses involved in the shed's construction from Creaser Constructions, Bordertown, who poured 930 square metres of concrete in two pours and 400sqm in the yards another day, to Australian Stock Yard Company at Ballarat, Vic, who have built steel yards to hold 4000 sheep outside the shed, to Bordertown Pumps and Electrical and B&D Plumbing Solutions, Bordertown.
Mr McBride said the Telopea Downs property has presented some challenges, but commended Mr Maxwell and his team for their efforts.
"When we first looked at Telopea, we knew half of the 47,000ha was clay spread and we thought we would go on and spread the rest of the country and perhaps even double the carrying capacity," he said.
"We have only done some repair work in clay so far, but what we have done is bring a culture of McBrides to manage and feed sheep well."
