Passing the shears to Piper: Women in trucking

Sheep shearing is one of those iconic Australian traditions that relies on expertise passed down over hundreds of years. This includes the intergenerational shearing families who teach a love of the trade and skills to their children.

When it came to Piper Williams, having the shears passed to her was no hardship.

Piper inherited her parent's passion for sheep farming and has been building a name for herself as a shearer, farmer, and livestock ultrasonographer, which involves scanning animals for pregnancy and working with the farmers to plan for births.

At 18 years of age, Piper put her driving skills to the test and received her medium-rigid truck licence which is vital to her future career and the smooth running of the family farm in regional New South Wales; allowing her to transport livestock, hay, heavy bags of animal feed, and other farming equipment with the family’s Isuzu NQR 87-190 crew cab truck.

Hi Piper, thanks for catching up with us. Firstly, can you describe what it’s been like for you growing up on a sheep station?

Our family has been on this farm for about 50 years and there are farmers and shearers on both sides of my family. Mum’s side has always been involved in agriculture and my grandfather was a truck driver. 

I've been shearing for three years now, which might be considered young, but I really feel like I have a knack for it. 

During the school holidays I would come home from boarding school, get home and get to work. Now I work full-time on the farm and with my pregnancy scanning business and I just love it.

Tell us a bit about what inspired you to start your own business?

My business is called Williams Livestock Scanning. I am contracted by different farmers all over the region who have been breeding their sheep and I scan the flock to find out which ones have conceived.

I use an ultrasonography machine that supplies an image of the sheep's uterus and I let the farmer know how many lambs the ewes are carrying, who will need extra feed, say if they are carrying twins, and when to expect deliveries.

It's important to accurately scan the livestock as farmers are relying on me to tell them if their ewes are pregnant. Otherwise, pregnant ewes could be sold or left unattended when they are close to delivering. That can attract predators to the newborn lambs, or the lambs can get hurt during frosty weather.

Did you undertake any study before developing your business?

I studied an ultrasound scanning course at TAFE and I had already been studying animal husbandry courses at my boarding school that specialised in farming and agriculture.

The tech side of the industry can be really interesting, it has changed and improved so much. With my scanner I can get a reading accurate down to a week from when the ewes are going to deliver.

There's not many female shearers, female farmers or young women in my line of work around. When I showed my parents that I was interested, they supported me to getting where I am now.

The Williams family Isuzu NQR 87-190 crew cab

Now that you have your licence, how will driving the truck come into your day?

Now that I have a medium-rigid truck licence I have more independence when it comes to moving livestock in crates, along with selling livestock at markets in Yass and Queanbeyan.

I can also pick up large quantities of hay and feed and do fewer trips because it all fits in the truck tray, meaning I can get more done at once.

Because our new Isuzu truck is a crew cab model, if we are camping out for a shearing job there is room on the back seat for a camp bed and sleeping bag.

When I was a kid, I loved riding in the stock trucks. I would go to stockyards at Yass and drop the sheep off, so it's always been a bit of a dream for me. 

Have you come across any barriers as a young woman in your industry?

There can be some contractors who don't want to hire female shearers and some very outdated myths and stereotypes that can get in the way of having the same opportunities as male shearers.

Once the other farmers see me in action though, they realise that I am worth having around. I can shear a mixed-breed sheep in around two minutes, and a pure Merino sheep in three. I’ve worked hard to have a good technique where none of the sheep I’m working with get cut or nicked.

A lot of the farmers do have doubts when an 18-year-old woman turns up to their farm to operate an ultrasonographic scanner, but they soon work out it's worthwhile. 

Piper Williams on the family farm working alongside her father, Mark

What advice do you have to any young woman or young person who wants to enter farming, or that wants to drive a truck?

I say, give it a go! Do what you believe in, stick at it, and don’t let any of the blokes boss you around too much.

I hope a lot more women do get into the industry, because it is quite fun to work in. You make great friends, it's a physical job, you get to travel throughout Australia and once you get your name out there, you start to make some good money. Plus, meeting new people is always a bonus; there are a lot of positive social aspects to shearing.

I hope more young people enter the industry, so I have peers alongside me while I build up my business!

What are some of your future aspirations for your business and career?

I’ll be seeing where ultrasonography takes me and how that technology develops and how it can improve quality of life for the ewes and lambs, as well as improve things for the farmers.

I am really enjoying making the most of my medium-rigid truck licence, all the practice around the farm with my dad and taking lessons has paid off so now it has become part of daily routine and makes everything that much easier.

Thanks, Piper!

Want to check out more stories from Aussie women in the world of trucking? Have a read of Emma Newell-Courtney's career as a Snap-on franchisee.