An Evaluation of AB Sheepskin Puller

Summary

The MIT AB sheepskin puller is manufactured in Sweden and has been in use, apparently successfully, in France for some time. At the suggestion of an overseas delegation from the Council of Australian Public Abattoir Authorities the performance of the puller was evaluated at the Meat Research Laboratory.

This project looked at the possible effectiveness of this machine in the Australian sheep processing industry and the possible returns it could bring.

Objectives

The project objectives were to carry out an evaluation of a Meat Industry Technique (MIT) AB sheepskin puller produced in Sweden and determine its suitability and possible effectiveness of being adopted in Australian sheep processing plants.

A secondary objective was to outline possible modifications to the machine which could be made to make the device more effective in the Australian market.

Key findings

• After a number of modifications to the equipment made available and a firsthand investigation of procedures used in France, a good standard of dressing was achieved with young animals.
• Older animals were also usually satisfactorily dressed but aged ewes often yielded carcases with torn surface tissues. Their pelts were also frequently torn.
• The machine offers potential for reduced manual dressing, especially in the areas of legging, rumping, flanking and backing off. However, the machine has a limited throughput of 250 head/hour.

Benefits to industry

The potential of this machine offered reduced labour requirements through reduced manual dressing for the sheep processing industry. This prospect is valued due to correlated cost benefits and improvements to OH&S.

MLA action

A few years later a cost benefit study of the VIP shoulder puller was completed (A.TEC.0090). This occurred because the MIT AB sheepskin puller was not adopted in Australia, largely due to devices lack of flexibility in animal size.

Following the failed adoption of the MIT AB sheepskin puller further development was done into alternative systems. The VIP (Variable Independent Path) lamb and sheep shoulder puller machine was developed in New Zealand.

A.TEC.0090 performed a cost benefit analysis on this device and P.PIP.0208 was a facilitated adoption project that trialled this system at WAMMCO in Western Australia.