Is wool a by-product?

While things have changed recently in terms of the price for wool, the sentiment of this blog is still the same – is wool becoming a by-product of meat?

In the past, merino wethers were run to produce high quality wool and processed into highly valued textiles. Now, in some cases, wool in an unprocessed state is making less than polyester fibre.

Currently crossbred fleece, no matter how fine, is making less clean than all lamb and some mutton, in cents per kilogram dressed weight. Most merino wool is only making 100 to 500 cents clean more than lamb. On a per hectare basis, merino wool will not come close to the productivity and profitability of lamb.

So what do we do now? How do we keep the quality of our merino wool? We have a fabulous fibre that is natural, renewable and biodegradable, it has unique properties when made into a garment that can not be copied by manmade fibres.

There are some animal welfare issues that need to be overcome, but we now have the opportunity for full traceability of a product that is ethically grown and harvested and environmentally sustainable.

In the race to produce more lambs with higher growth rates and better meat attributes we should not lose sight of the things that made merino wool in Australia great - a soft stylish white wool with a good crimp definition that kept the dust in the tip.

We also need to find markets for the crossbred wool that pays more, as there is only so long that people will continue producing this wool at a loss.

Is wool a by-product? Yes it is at this time, but can we make it a coproduct? Wool needs to be a coproduct so it retains its great Australian wool attributes. For this to happen the price needs to improve, but also we need to be able to produce wool more cheaply.

Prices have changed since August last year - 19 micron and finer wool is up 800-900c clean / $27-37 a head, 20-22 micron are up around 700c clean / $35 a head.

Crossbred wool is still making less than red meat on a clean price but are at least covering the costs of shearing them. In the same timeframe red meat prices are up as well; 100-200c dressed weight or $18 to $60 a head.

So, is the price of wool moving ahead quick enough to be a standalone product without the need to breed for the meat attributes of the merino sheep?

To bring young people back into the wool industry and increase supply we need to keep prices around this level for more than the six to eighteen months as the wool industry has generally done, and also before we head into the next trough in prices.

The wool industry has a great product, a positive story, good people and a good future if we all work together to produce this great fibre.

Bradley Venning

WoolProducers Australia Director