Unpacking wool performance and measuring your flock’s productivity
Wool enterprises are profitable.
Author: Emily King, AWI National Extension Manager
AWI Extension NSW recently hosted Jess Paton from Agrista for our Unpacking wool performance and measuring your flock’s productivity webinar.
It’s well worth the hour of your time to watch the webinar recording for the wisdom imparted by Jess, but a few key highlights include:
- What space are you playing in? Are you using the data, information and knowledge to make anticipatory decisions, or are you mostly making reactionary decisions?
- Collect data and information across years for informed decision making – farming is generally a seasonal business and there are ups and downs in all enterprises across years.
- There’s generally very little long-term variation between livestock breeding enterprises in terms of operating profit ($/dry sheep equivalent [DSE]).
- Long-term data analysis suggests the best bang for your buck is to improve what you already have rather than jumping ship and leaping into a different enterprise. Be aware of the hidden costs and the new knowledge you will need to acquire to manage your new enterprise.
- Wool enterprise strengths are worth highlighting and aren’t shared by all other grazing enterprises. They include: diversity (multiple income streams – wool, surplus sheep, lambs, etc.); income during drought; maternal flexibility; and dry sheep generate revenue.
- Wool enterprise challenges include: livestock health and welfare; contract labour; workload and physical demands; and system complexity.
- Data shows a feature of highly profitable managers is their ability to streamline operations and reduce the complexity of their business – simplicity isn’t a bad thing!
- Think about infrastructure you can invest in which genuinely improves labour efficiency, saves time, and assists you in attracting and retaining good labour (as they enjoy working in efficient and safe facilities).
- Business efficiency is essential – know your operating return. Where do you start?
- Prices, rainfall, etc., are completely out of our control, so focus on things within your control. Things within your control are cost of production (what does it cost you to produce a kilogram of clean wool or lamb) and how many kilograms are you producing?
- Optimising feed utilisation is essential – matching feed production with sheep demand is the key to success.
- Targets the top wool producers are achieving (mostly producers in >500 mm average rainfall per year): Operating cost <$45/DSE; production >7kg clean wool/ha/100 mm of rain; cost of production <$9/kg clean.
- There are big opportunities to improve your wool-growing enterprise, but it does require a change in most cases and a focus on your profit drivers and optimising cost of production and output.
The full recording is available to watch below.
More information
- AWI Extension NSW webinar Unpacking wool performance and measuring your flock's productivity
- Agrista report Why stay in wool sheep?
- AWI webinar Why stay in wool?
- Making More From Sheep Module 8 Turn pasture into product
- AWI Extension NSW webinar The productive flock – hitting targets and lifting results
- Making More From Sheep Tool 1.8 AWI Cost of production calculator for wool enterprises
- Making More From Sheep Tool 1.10 Indicative industry benchmarks
