In 1970 William Talbot, a South African engineer, and his son Peter Talbot, bought a small cattle farm near Vaalwater in Limpopo. Soon after, when they stocked the farm with cattle, they began the process of dipping to protect the cattle against ticks and tick born diseases.

The traditional method was to build a plunge dip, through which the cattle had to swim. The construction of this kind of dip was and remains costly, and this combined with the very wasteful use of tickacide made the Talbot's think that there had to be a better, more cost-effective way of achieving the same result.

Peter Talbot decided to build a Spray Race, through which the animals could walk, rather than swim. At the same time, the construction allowed for recycling of the dip mixture. In 1972 the Talbot's exhibited a single Spray Race at the Pretoria Agricultural Show and the product captured the imagination of the farmers.