Shearing success at Weilmoringle
If you’re looking for an example of the ‘can do’ attitude of people in the bush, Kyle Brown and Taniell Pokarier-Baker fit the bill.
They run LuSid Shearing, an up-and-coming shearing business that has seen them establish themselves as gun shearers and mentors for other young people wanting to get into the shearing business.
During August, Kyle and Taniell proudly announced the success of their youngest shearing recruit, Keelan Nicholls, who, two days after his 17th birthday, reached a significant milestone on the job, shearing 100 sheep in one day for the first time.
Taniel said she was so proud of Keelan’s achievement she almost cried, and for Keelan, it was the confidence booster he needed.
Keelan’s success was also proof that the work Kyle and Taniell have put into their fledgling business is paying off.
Not only are they giving young people in Weilmoringle and Brewarrina a career opportunity, but they are also proving they know how to run a successful business in a very tough and competitive industry.
“Kyle and I were working in Queensland for three years before we decided to come home to Weil and try and make a go of it here,” Taniel said.
“Queensland was just too far away from family, and we thought it was time to have a crack at running a contracting business ourselves, so we decided to have a go, went in headfirst and missed that many steps when we started out.
“But there weren’t a lot of contractors in the western area of New South Wales and so we started in January last year, just Kyle and me and his brother and sister-in-law helping us.
“It just grew with the support of a lot of locals and friends. Now there are 14 of us all together, half based in Bre and half in Weilmoringle.
“We operate in a 100km radius from Weil so we can get home every night and very rarely have to stay out and everyone from Bre can go home to their families too, so it works out for everybody,” she said.
Taniel grew up in Goodooga and Kyle started his career with Bateman Shearing. It was while she was taking a gap year that Taniel met Kyle, who literally handed her the shears and told her to have a go.
“He threw me in the shed straight away and that’s how I got in eight years ago.
“When we decided to start out on our own last year, we had to come up with a name for our business, so LuSid is a combination of our two dogs’ names - Lupe and Sid.
“When we started, we had just two shearing plants from another contractor and that’s all we had to run with.
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