15 May 2000

Media Release
Southland Times Farming Supplement

Untapped sheep potential

Sheep farmers are having their most profitable year in a decade, but for many there is still the potential to do much better.

Ken Geenty, research manager for WoolPro, says leading farmers are making excellent use of new and existing technology to increase on-farm productivity.

But he notes that the gap between them and the least productive farmers seems to be as wide as ever.

"Our challenge is to convince ordinary Jo and Joanne Blows that by working smarter, rather than harder, that they can make more money. The weather and prices may have been on their side in the last 12 months, but that doesn’t happen every year.”

Dr Geenty says WoolPro uses a range of techniques to put farmers on the sheep’s back.

More than half the company’s budget goes on funding grass-roots research and then communicating the findings.

This ranges from passive communications like Wool Grower magazine and No 8 Wired videos, through to very active programmes like monitor farm and FITT programme field days.

“These field days, and the programmes they are attached to, have been hugely successful. That’s because they are basically driven by farmers.”

Dr Geenty says the monitor farm and FITT programmes are being supported by farming innovators and early adopters; some of whom are earning 10 per cent or more a year on the capital they have invested in their farms.

However, he points out that the willingness to adopt new technology is not the only ingredient in farm business success.

“Successful farmers are efficient producers. They have good quality control and are good marketers, which means they get the best possible prices. They use good business practices to keep a hawk eye on costs,” says Dr Geenty.

“The key drivers of profit are the knowledge, attitudes and skills of farmers combined with their confidence or sense of control. Of these, the most important is the sense of control, which triggers confidence and motivation.”

Woolnet

WoolPro managing director Lance Wiggins says the control factor was an important ingredient in WoolPro’s decision to develop Woolnet.

“With control goes responsibility. If wool is to have a future, individual growers have to take responsibility for what happens to their clip,” he says.

“For many growers who have tried Woolnet, taking control has meant big lessons about how wool is sold.

“In the past, few crossbred growers have gone to the trouble to get their wool described and valued before private sale. Even fewer have had direct contact with their customers.”

Currently WoolPro is appraising and valuing wool samples free of charge for growers, to help them better understand what their wool is worth.

Mr Wiggins says there is a long-established culture among wool growers that wool marketing and quality assurance are someone else’s responsibility.

“No longer can farmers afford to leave it to brokers, exporters, or the Wool Board.

“For example, quality is the one thing that differentiates New Zealand wool from the rest. Once the wool’s left the farm it’s too late.

“So it’s essential that farmers accept that quality is their responsibility.”

While it pays farmers to adopt WoolPro’s Fernmark Quality Programme clip preparation standards, the motivation for the programme is largely strategic.

Like WoolPro’s Operation Cleanfleece, which has helped farmers reduce dip residues in wool, FQP is designed to help position New Zealand as the preferred supplier of quality wool worldwide.

WoolPro’s renowned shearer, wool classer and wool handling training programmes are motivated by the same logic.

“It’s no accident that New Zealand wool is seen as the best in world. It’s because farmers have helped fund a training programme which turns out the best wool harvesters in the world.”

Mr Wiggins and Dr Geenty say WoolPro has helped create a lot of the tools that farmers can use as a springboard for success. But ultimately, the decision whether or not to use these tools rests with the individual farmer.

“It’s not easy being a farmer these days, but the success of our best farmers shows what can be achieved.”

[ends]