John Craig

Western Australian wool producer John Craig is benefiting from the independent overview of the wool market with the help of the web-based program, Woolcheque, Australian Wool Innovation's wool pricing tool.

Producing Merino sheep and wool near Carnarvon in the Gascoyne region of north west Western Australia, Mr Craig runs a predominantly wether flock across 80,000 hectares on his property, Marron Station.

"We are slightly different in that we focus on wethers," Mr Craig said.

"Because of the rainfall variability, we felt we couldn't achieve genetic improvement with breeding, so we have an alliance with a Geraldton farmer, 400kms south of here.

"He breeds sheep for wool and we buy his wethers and this allows us to focus primarily on wool production."

Mr Craig said he used the Woolcheque program in several ways.

"Woolcheque gives us a general overview of the wool market for our particular needs and by keeping an eye on the price of wool, we can significantly increase our profitability," he explained.

"For example, if we have 50 bales of wool and enter the data, we can track it for a long term period.

"We shore in November last year and had we sold then, we would have been at the bottom of the cycle. However, by holding the wool until February, we saw prices increase by about 20 per cent.

"Woolcheque, along with advice from our wool broker, gives us the total picture and greater confidence when selling.

"This is where it's beneficial to separate the marketing of wool from the production of wool - and that's what I'm trying to do, to break that nexus between the two."

Mr Craig said he treated his wool lots, once tested, more like a share portfolio, giving him more of an advantage.

"As well as giving me more information, Woolcheque gives me a great interest in the wool selling side of things.

He said while initially the website took a little getting used to, it was generally very easy to use and to navigate.

"In my case, by using Woolcheque, I'm able to gain premiums above the going market," he added.

"Like stocks and shares, once you start tracking, you enter all your lots and the system calculates it for you - and you can watch daily, weekly or monthly."

"By moving from an annual selling system to a rolling trading system I can choose when to sell - and if we don't need cash flow immediately, it's like having money in the bank gaining interest as the wool market increases."

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