Russell and Colleen Foster, Omeo, were very happy to be selling their Italian spinner style wool in a buoyant market last week.
“It’s good for everyone, for the whole industry,” Mr Foster said.
The couple and their 4.5 year-old twin sons Jayden and Rhys were part of a 36-strong group of Gippsland woolgrowers and Elders staff, who travelled to Melbourne to watch the sale of two bales of wool, made up of fleeces donated to raise money for the Helimed Ambulance Auxiliary based in Traralgon.
Selling under the wool brand EEF/OMEO, their 73 bales of fleece and Merino skirtings averaged 1461c/kg and averaged 16.5-17 micron.
Mr Foster said they were keen to sell before the Newcastle sale because a lot of similar type wool would be sold there. Since last week, the wool market has cooled, although the finer types such as the Fosters produce did not suffer as severe a correction as the broader types.
Mr Foster’s father Peter, who died in early December, grew the premium wool for decades, and Mr Foster credits him with sparking is passion for it.
“It’s just a beautiful type of wool,” Mr Foster said.
“Dad said, ‘If you look at the top line and it looks good enough to eat, you’re on the right track’, and this year’s top line certainly did.”
They sold some of the clip under contract to New England Wool – the 16M wool yeilded 78.9 per cent and had a strength of 40 Newtons per kilotex (Nkt). Of the remaining bales sold at auction, the fleece and Merino skirtings averaged 1461c/kg greasy.
The third-generation farmer said they’d bought rams from Nanima and Grathlyn Merino studs. Mr Foster said they planned to go back to buying Hillcreston rams, which the family had used for many years.
