Environments - RURAL CONTRACTOR
Under Woolshed Cleaner - the mechanics and new opportunities!
A Fencing Job
Under
Woolshed Cleaner - the mechanics and new opportunities!
Middle
Secondary
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Critical and creative thinking
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Personal and social capability
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Numeracy
Cooperative
Learning Activity
Teacher
This activity is a Rich Task that can be
used in Commerce, Economics or Agriculture.
Students are to use the
SWOT Analysis
for marketing the sheep manure retrieved by the Under Woolshed Cleaner.
Lesson Length: 4- 5 x45 mins
Students
1. In pairs, you are to view the following video of the Under Woolshed Cleaner from the ABC's Landline. "Of all the dirty jobs in agriculture clearing out sheep poo from under woolsheds ranks as one of the most tedious".
Clearing woolshed sheep poo is a dirty job with some surprising perks
Landline ABC Australia 5 March 2024
https://youtu.be/2ht3nTkAbGk?si=lJq-xo-sYjnCmTrc
Full Transcript in this
article:
2. What machines does Robin use? Remember a "machine" is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. List them and how they work.
3.What are the dangers and advantages of being an Under Woolshed Cleaner?
Would you like this job? Why? Why not?
What did Robin say about vacuums? Write up one sentence.
Go to the following
website and in point format, list the dangers of under woolshed cleaning
and the use of vacuums.
4.
Discuss with a partner: What dangers would his grandson expect? Later in life?
5. Robin gets out the sheep manure and leaves it on the property in a pile that can stay on the station for years.
Develop a business case [or not] for value-adding by removing the poo, bagging it and selling it as sheep manure by conducting a SWOT analysis with your partner.
Robin can take out an average of 20 tonnes per day.
Resources for cost of 25L - 40L to customers:
https://mulchesandmore.com.au/product/sheep-manure-30l/
https://mazzegaslandscapingsupplies.com.au/product/sheep-manure-40ltr-bag-copy/
https://www.bunnings.com.au/fine-farms-25l-sheep-manure_p2961066
Optional Extras
A. Make a model of the machine used to get out the sheep manure from under the woolshed and show /explain how it works. Could you think of any improvements?
B. Develop a Marketing campaign to sell sheep manure
[taken directly from Careers Information Toolkit by MLA & Australian Wool Innovation Ltd - PDF p29]
Middle
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Numeracy
Teacher
Local Copy
- below
Introduction
A fencing contractor has been hired to fence a new small home paddock on a farm. The paddock is one hectare in area, square in shape and on flat ground. The fence will have 5 high tensile barbed wires.
Students
1. Draw the paddock to scale. Use the scale 1 cm = 10 m.
2. Calculate the length of the fence.
3. The paddock will have one 3.6m (12 foot) gate. The gateway will be just
under 4 metres
wide.
a. Mark the position of the gate on your diagram
b. Why did you put the gate in that position?
4. The fence will be constructed with hardwood posts. There are two type of posts:
| Strainer posts are large posts that take the pressure of the wire when it is strained. On flat ground a strainer post is placed at each corner of a paddock and on either side of the gate. Strainer posts are supported by stays to stop them being pulled over when tension is put on the wires. | Fence posts are smaller than strainers. For this fence
they will be placed at 4 metre intervals. Five holes will be drilled
through each post and each of the five wires pulled through the posts, strained tight and wrapped around and se cured on the strainer posts at each end. |
 |
 |
a. How many strainer posts are need?
b. How many fence posts are needed?
c. How many metres of wire are
needed? Add an extra metre of wire each time you get to
a strainer post to allow the wire to be wrapped around the post, strained
and tied off.
Don’t forget to allow for the gateway.
d. Barbed wire comes in 500 metre
rolls. How many rolls of wire will the contractor need
to complete the fence?
5. The contractor has quoted $10 per metre to supply the materials and erect
the fence.
a. How much will the fence cost?
b. The contractor must add 10 percent GST to his quote. Calculate the GST.
c. What is the total cost of the fence?
6. Did you know that Australia has the longest fence in the world? Find out
where it is,
how long it is and when and why it was built.
Extension problems for
keen fencers and mathematicians
1. Calculate the cost of materials for the fencing contractor. Use the
prices given below.
Note – For this paddock each strainer post in a corner will have 2 diagonal
stays and
one stay at a gateway.
| MATERIAL | COST PER UNIT | NO. OF UNITS | TOTAL COST |
| Strainer Post | $20.00 | ||
| Stay | $12.00 | ||
| Fence Post | $8.00 | ||
|
Roll of high tensile barbwire |
$70.00 | ||
|
Gate (3.6m) and fittings |
$120.00 | ||
| TOTAL COST= | |||
2. The cost of materials included GST. Divide the total cost by 11 to
calculate the GST.
What is the cost of materials without GST?
3. How much did the fencing contractor earn on this job? Of course there are
other costs,
called overheads, that the contractor must allow for such as vehicles,
machinery and
tools, fuel, insurance and possibly the wage of another worker.
Read at the following news item from
ABC News 2 May 2023
What are the dilemnas faced by the
Contractor?
Discuss with a partner any solutions
