St Peter’s School, Cambridge, student Penny Ranger’s simple solution to a drenching headache was recognised at Fieldays when she won the Young Innovator Award.
Ranger created the Mark-It, a tool is designed to streamline the drenching process for sheep by leaving an ink mark on the side of the sheep’s mouth.
The tool is an attachment that holds an ink-saturated sponge that slips onto the drench gun. The attachment is close enough to the drench dispenser to ensure the sheep gets an ink stain on its mouth – letting the farmer know that it has received the drench, preventing sheep being missed or doubling up the dosage.
Ranger grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Waikato and inherited the idea from her sister and refined it further to make it usable for farmers.
“My personal experience is in the race drenching at home and not knowing whether I had got that sheep or not,” Ranger said.
The feedback had been extremely positive from sheep farmers she had spoken to at Fieldays.
“I’ve had farmers say it’s a great idea and a retired farmer said that he wished it was around 20 years ago.”
The three head judges said Ranger is well down the road towards commercial success with a product that solves a sheep farming issue in a remarkably simple way.
“It is a classic Kiwi solution that simplifies an important task while helping save money and waste,” they said.
