Despite the lucrative pay that comes from shearing sheep, with current rates averaging $4 per sheep, the Australian wool industry is facing a major shortage of skilled labour.
To overturn this, many farmers are desperately trying different ways to attract new talent, including offering higher award rates.
Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), a parent company to Woolmark, is using a different approach to tackle the skill shortage by investing in robotics. According to AWI CEO John Roberts, he hopes that reducing physical labour strains through the use of robotics will attract the workforce they need.
“We've got what we call a 'catch and drag' delivery system, which mechanically delivers the sheep to the shearer on a conveyor,’ Roberts said.
“Where a shearer gets injured the most, it's their back when they go into a pen and drag a sheep out of a pen, because they're a hundred kilo animal in some cases.
“We're trying to look at ways where shearers can have less stress on the body. And that'll allow more people, not necessarily big burly shearers, but the lighter frame people as well, to come into the industry.
“And also to stay stationary for longer because you don't get busted after five years because you're putting less stress on the body.”
While the industry is struggling to attract talent, however, Roberts said the global demand for Australian wool is very strong. This is despite challenges around global supply chains, particularly in China.
Roberts said that overall logistics in China, from moving containers to unloading them, has been slow.
“The cost of containers has gone up dramatically as well because they're harder to get ahold of.
“Even a lot of the European brands who process product out of China are experiencing huge delays of up to three months or so. It's really slowed things up for sure.
“That said, demand is still good. The wool prices are pretty solid, which is great for our farmers.
“Most of the wool that went to China was value added and then left China.
“We also know most of the wool that goes to China, more than 50% of it stays in China, and it actually goes through the retail.
“So they're not just a manufacturer, they're also a big consumer now.”
Push for sustainability
In recent years, according to Roberts, consumers are increasingly seeking sustainable businesses for their fashion needs.
“If it's not sustainable, it's not fashionable anymore,” Roberts said.
Roberts continued, saying that Australian wool is a natural, biodegradable fibre from a free range animal, and is the ingredient businesses need when aiming for 100% sustainability.
“All the natural functionality in terms of moisture management, odor management, shape, retention, drape, all those things that wool does naturally, are really working in our favor right now.
“Consumer demand isn't going away in terms of carbon, in terms of eco credentials, and the like.
“That's one of the biggest opportunities for us right now.”
However, with Australian wool being an expensive product, it creates a challenge for Woolmark and AWI to push to new designers and brands.
“If those designers' customers are asking for something more sustainable, we usually try and give them that information about the sustainable eco credentials of wool, to help them justify putting it in their products.
“Young and emerging designers often find it hard to reach that price point in the first instance. So we've got to give them every single piece of information and product innovation to actually garner the interest of the consumer.
“You've got to give them the justification for that higher price point.”
Part of Woolmark and AWI’s marketing for this includes reaching out and educating new brands.
“Because, ultimately, those people at the retail gate, they're the ones who can really get the best cut through to consumers.
“So we've rolled out a lot of retail training with a number of brands around the world, in the last 12 months, and we're trying to ramp that up even more this year.
“Because for those people to be there talking about the virtues of wool, while people were making purchasing decisions is really important.”
This push is more targeted towards international brands and markets, where a vast majority of Australian wool is sold in.
According to Roberts, almost 90% of Australian wool is shipped and sold in the northern hemisphere.
“Wool that's retailed in Australia would be less than 1% of our production,” Roberts said. “We obviously want to see it increase.”
“To be very quite candid about it, we don't spend a lot of marketing dollars here in Australia, because most of our demand is in the northern hemisphere.
“And the other thing is, most Australians know what wool is. They identify with wool, they know that we're the best wool growers in the world. And there's a national pride behind wool here.
“Certainly in other jurisdictions wool isn't as well known or it isn't as close to their heart. So we think that the education and the awareness piece is probably more paramount in those overseas markets than it is here.
“But that said, we will be doing another Australian marketing push later this year to promote wool in Australia, because we haven't done it for quite some time.”