Recent school leavers across NSW are being encouraged to consider a career in shearing as the industry seeks to address a shortage of workers.
NSW Farmers said young people “looking for a lucrative career in the bush have the chance to join an iconic industry and help Australia recover from COVID”.
NSW Farmers Wool Committee Chair Helen Carrigan said with the Certificate III in Shearing course free for all NSW residents and a shortage of qualified shearers in the sheds, there was never a better time to join the industry.
“The ‘click’ of the shears is part of our proud agricultural history and there are so many success stories of young people keen to have a go. It can be hard work, but it’s rewarding,” she said.
Mrs Carrigan said NSW Farmers had launched its Wool Technical Advisory Group (WoolTAG) in 2021 to tackle the issues in the industry head-on and would continue to take a proactive approach to agricultural issues in the state.
“If we can encourage young people to get into the sheds to be trained and mentored we can not only set them up for success but also help solve this worker shortage,” Mrs Carrigan said.
“This is a great career path for anyone who doesn’t want to spend their life in an office with a suit and tie.”
NSW Farmers member Chris Kemp, who operates a sheep property near Merriwa, said the shortage of shearers had been a growing problem in the industry for the past three years, with many farmers currently losing sheep to flystrike because they were unable to shear them quickly enough.
SHEDS: Sheep at Chris Kemp’s property near Merriwa in the Upper Hunter. Picture: Chris Kemp
Mr Kemp said the combination of a lack of shearers and heavy rainfall towards the end of 2021 had been a ‘two-pronged sword’ for sheep farmers and had resulted in some of the most challenging conditions he had seen in his lifetime.
“We’ve just had a really wet summer here and the sheep never dry out, and for us we’re just running behind with shearing because of the wet weather,” he said.
“It’s a constant workload, it’s just full on. You just seem to do it and then go around and do it again.”
Mr Kemp while providing free training courses in shearing would help the industry address critical shortages, he believes more support is needed.
“We certainly need a lot more help getting people trained and then getting the help to make sure they end up in sheds,” he said.
“It’s okay to train them but you need to then get them placed into sheds for at least 12 months to get them started.”
But despite the current challenges in the sector, Mr Kemp said he believed shearing was a good career path for young people to follow.
“It’s a sustainable industry, because wool is a sustainable product,” he said.
“It’s a natural fibre and there’s not a big footprint on the environment, so for young people looking for a future it’s very bright at the moment.
“We’re just looking for people to come and work in it and enjoy the country lifestyle.”
Novice shearer training courses are being conducted by Australian Wool Innovation Ltd (AWI) across NSW until March, 2022, at locations including Tamworth and Dubbo.
More information on the shearing courses is available at the website of AWI.
