Wool selling centre pauses for Easter, growers reflect on season

Woolgrowers have sold their last lots for the season this week at the National Wool Selling Centre in Melbourne, before the market reaches its Easter recess.

For Woodside woolgrower Sandy Gordon, the lead up to wool selling and the Tuesday sale was a family occasion.

Mr Gordon said his daughters helped prepare on-farm when they could, with daughter Erin travelling from Darwin to help manage the shearing shed, and daughters Alice and Isla helping on-farm.

He said while they were still able to access local shearers, it was still a whole-family effort.

"We're grateful that our shearing teams have arrived and we've gotten the job done so far," he said.

"We have our weaners to shear in a few weeks' time but it's gone well.

"We've been sourcing shearers locally as we have been for many years, they still turn up and do the job.

"I also shear myself and the whole family gets involved - whoever is around at the time."

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Mr Gordon said they had a decent season in South Gippsland, but a hotter summer than the past few years.

"We've had a pretty good season, we had a long, hotter, drier summer than we've been used to for the last few years given how wet it's been," he said.

"This year, if we get [the shearing] all done - which we will - that's 7500 sheep nearly shorn."

Warrenbayne farmer and Fox & Lillie wool broker John Harrison said his biggest challenges for the past 12 months included weather conditions and farm costs.

"The huge wet spring didn't help us much, [it was] probably the wettest spring I've ever seen with floods and rain," he said.

"The weather is always a big influence, we had a little bit of rain but nothing to get us going yet."

He runs about 1500 Merino sheep, about 3000 first-cross ewes, and 100 Angus cows.

"Our costs are huge and they're going to keep going, we've come back in price with our wool, lambs and beef so that's a bit concerning, but you still have to trade and do your best to make it as good as you can," he said.

He said he had heard from other growers that they faced similar issues, but he believed the agricultural industry had a great outlook for up-and-coming farmers.

"I've been a farmer since I was 10 years of age, I'm in my seventies now, I've seen a lot of it," he said.

"A big point I see is in the '80s and '90s it was pretty average.

"But in going forward 20 years I think there's a big future in farming and we have an issue in getting younger people involved.

"If I could give any advice to a young person, it's if they want to go into agriculture it would be hugely encouraged because I see a great outlook going forward."

Nutrien north-east Victoria wool manager Jarrod DeMarco said while Merino prices were strong this season, crossbred wool prices were struggling.

"The Merino side of things is very good, [we're] happy with the levels," he said.

"I can't say the same about crossbred wools, it's at the lowest levels I've seen.

"There's a lot of crossbred wool around, a lot on hold and sitting about unsold and still plenty in store."

He said clients struggled to find shearers in spring, but availability had picked up again with the weather cooling down.

"We'll hit the spring again and it'll be the same no doubt, there'll be a shortage because everyone likes to get their wool shorn in the spring when it's clean and no seed," he said.

"The final wools have come off in the last week or two but in saying that, the better specs with no seed are sound, and if they're not over-long they're selling reasonably well."

Mr Gordon said the next 12 months looked positive as he made adjustments to his flock for easier management.

"We're reducing aged ewes, they're surplus now and gone, with the view to having a younger flock with bigger mob sizes for better health of the flock, easier management, and still shear similar-type numbers of sheep," he said.

"We're looking forward to having more rain, getting the season going and getting set up for wintertime and doing it all again come spring and summer."

Nutrien Victorian wool manager Stewart Raine said growers could expect "more of the same".

"However, with China more out of COVID lockdown and the domestic market finding its feet again, our hope would be that the market would start to grow in line with that domestic population product and we'll see those orders back in our market that have been missing for a couple of years," he said.

"The season so far has gone really well, year-on-year we've sold about 30,000 more bales than we had this time last year."