Shearing sheds are coming to life in parts of South Australia and Victoria after a workforce crisis that's caused a collective headache for the industry in recent years.
"It's a completely different scenario this year," said Glenn Haynes, a Naracoorte-based shearing contractor and Shearing Contractors Association of Australia (SCAA) executive officer.
"Things are looking extremely positive. There's shearers coming across from New South Wales, Western Australia and our New Zealanders are back in good numbers.
"There's a lot of good young people coming into the industry this year … although we're still struggling for wool handlers and shed staff.
"Shearer numbers are looking the best they have in years."
There are about 2,000 working shearers in Australia today compared to 10,000 30 years ago.
But with gross weekly earnings in the realm of $1,500 for new recruits with six months of experience, the industry is clawing the numbers back.
Retention rates improve
The pandemic offered a "silver lining" for the industry, Mr Haynes said.
"It meant that a lot of contractors had no choice but to put on a lot of young shearers due to the workforce shortages," he said.
"But that meant that those young shearers gained a lot of valuable skills and experience in a shorter amount of time."
In the past 18 months, 209 new shearers entered the industry in South Australia and Victoria alone, Mr Haynes said.
"You go back to 2018 and you'd be lucky to get 25 per state per year," he said.
"Now those young people are shearing well over 150 or 160 a day, which is very positive for local woolgrowers – and it means they're taking home a really good pay cheque too."
Mr Haynes said despite the logistical challenges of border restrictions and workplace regulations – which saw the usual contingent of about 500 New Zealander shearers unable to operate for the past couple of seasons – the pandemic meant newcomers received more experience and training.
"That's the biggest thing we found with COVID was young shearers getting the opportunity to jump on a stand and stay there," he said.
"In the past, they've been shifted around a fair bit – on and off the stands, rouseabouting or sidelined by more experienced shearers."
The demand for workers helped to retain young shearers, Mr Haynes said.
"[Previously] they tended to take off and join another industry, but the last couple of years has seen them get the opportunity to stay on stands, and they then start shearing 100 or more sheep a day very quickly," he said.
"When they're at that level (usually about three weeks after their training) they're looking at around $400 a day in their pocket. They're making good money straight away."
Mr Haynes said wool handlers were also making "a lot better money" than a few years ago with the average take-home pay of about $320 a day.
Training deal a win Tasman partners
Building on the current industry outlook, Australian Wool Innovation, along with Australia's largest shearing and wool handling training organisation SCAA Shearer Wool Handler Training Inc (SCAA SWTI), have signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with New Zealand's shearing training body Elite Wool Industry Training NZ.
The MoU was put in place in response to the global shortage of shearers and skilled wool handlers, which resulted in the price of shearing increasing by more than 20 per cent.
SCAA secretary Jason Letchford says the additional benefit of being able to facilitate the transition of learner shearers and wool handlers between the countries will "help to accommodate the seasonal cycles and better ensure consistency of work for new entrants to the industry, an issue that has been the Achilles heel for learner shearers in the past".
Mr Haynes agreed it was "a good practical measure" for shearer training.
"It's a collaboration of the training organisations here in Australia and in New Zealand," he said.
"We swap ideas, we're trying to address some of the issues that crop up with training and align the structures between the two countries."
Mr Haynes said the MoU would also help address regional issues, including shearing to breed and type.
"There are some great young shearers in New Zealand but a lot of them are predominantly cross-bred shearers, so they might handle 250 or 300 a day but they haven't shorn merinos and might only be doing 15 or 16 a run," he said.
"This MoU will help circumvent those issues through training.
"It's also setting up a pathway for good young people to come across, work here in the peak season, which is the last few months of the year, and it works very well with their seasonal downtime in New Zealand.
"It also means we can send our young shearers over to them in January through to March, which is a quieter time for us in Australia."
From classroom to pro shearer
Following the eastern states' intense drought, Australia's wool industry is recovering with widespread favourable growing conditions and woolgrowers are rebuilding flocks and along with it, Australia's wool export market.
In SA and Victoria, young people engaging in shearing training for the first time can attend a five-day course where they learn shearing, setting-up handpieces, crutching, wool handling, pressing and penning-up.
"They can walk out of the shed at the end of the week and they can head straight into the workforce," Mr Haynes said.
"Then we go out and follow them up and support them in the shed.
"Generally, after three or so weeks, we get the report that they're shearing their first hundred sheep a day."
Mr Haynes says young shearers today are focused and professional.
"It's a changing climate over the last few years," he said.
"There used to be guys sitting down the pub and betting on horses on a Saturday, but these young guys and girls are buying houses when they're 21 and 22.
"They want to come and do their job, a lot of them train at the gym and eat a very specific diet. They work on their gear at night."
Mr Haynes said woolgrowers needed to meet the needs of the new workforce and present sheep and sheds in an "equally professional manner".
"They are professionals and they want a professional workplace," he said.
But, Mr Haynes added, the reward of a reliable team was "a positive for the whole of industry".
"I've never seen a farmer who presents his sheep well with well-maintained facilities ever struggle to get shearers," he said.
