Despite the Australian wool market showing shaky signs, Victorian producers are still confident that the local market will be strong for the foreseeable future.
Economic outlooks are not looking good for wool, with depreciated currency and softening demand in Chine due to COVID lockdowns.
At the same time shearers are also hard to find, causing concern that a massive backlog of wool will not be harvested.
But for woolgrower Rod McErvale, Waterloo, he believes the pandemic is a shrinking threat and weather is playing more of a part in shaping the market now, which is all looking positive.
"COVID is still an issue worldwide, but we are living with it now, and I don't think it's going to affect the wool market as much as, say what the war in Ukraine may do," Mr McErvale said.
"A lot of what drives the market is also mindset, but weather is the key factor."
He said the recent positive autumn break was making it one of the best times for wool locally in over 30 years.
"This is the third great autumn break that we've had in a row but in saying that, the last three weeks it has turned a little bit in our area and we probably need another small drop right now," he said.
"The wool and merino wool industry for the last 30 years at the moment has been one of the best.
"It's not the highest of the highs, but with everything else that's going on with the weather season, the mutton prices, crops, we are seeing everything's at the same good level at the same time."
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But while many working on the land are seeing good confidence in the wool market, Mr McErvale said some conversations with fellow farmers kept him wary.
"Few of the old people have said to me to just wait, because they think it's shaping up not to be a good year, so we'll see," he said.
Mr McErvale is processing around "25 and 30 per cent of his own fleece wool" and believes that will twill keep things secure for the fourth generation farmers, especially for their own business ventures away from farming.
Rod and his wife Rebecca also oversee Leroy Mac Designs - a company producing baby blankets, beanies and other clothing for babies using wool from their own merinos
The company has gone from strength to strength in recent years, having received the 2018 Federation Business School Creative Industries Business Award from Commerce Ballarat along with exporting their products as far as Norway, Japan and Canada.
For Mr McErvale, he believes diversifying what business can stem from the farm can sure up the reliability to soften market downfalls in wool.
"By taking that volatility out, we can make a value adding that is far greater than just buying or selling it in the auction," he said.
"So that's helped the bottom line to a degree for us."
