WOOLPRO Bledisloe Bulletin

No. 3 November 2000

The Bledisloe Bulletin is a free service to wool growers who provide their email addresses to WoolPro. It is also automatically emailed to grower sellers on Woolnet.

In the November 2000 bulletin:

1. Louse control research

2. Price discovery on Woolnet

3. A prick of a problem

4. Woolnet features at e-commerce seminar

5. In-shed testing back

6. Strange rules

7. Free wool valuations

8. Feedback please

1. Louse control research

WoolPro is urgently putting together a research proposal to find the best way to control lice on pre-lamb shorn mid-micron and Merino ewes. This follows major outbreaks on some South Island farms this season.

WoolPro environmental technologist Stu Edwards says lice are becoming increasingly tolerant to SP pour-ons. And dip manufacturers now say their replacement products --- IGR pour-ons --- were trialled on flat comb shorn sheep, not on ewes shorn with winter combs, blades or lifters. It’s thought that pour-ons are absorbed by the longer wool on the back and flanks of sheep shorn with blades, winter combs or lifters, leaving much of the animal untreated.

Off-shears is the only time to control lice on fine woolled sheep. Later treatment, especially using plunge or shower dips, results in excess residues at shearing.

Stu says no current off-shears treatments for ewes shorn pre-lamb with winter combs, lifters or blades will give 100 per cent louse control. He feels that an OP/IGR combination, applied using a modern spray race, might be the best option, but this technique needs to be trialled and proven. As affected farmers know, a solution is urgently needed. Within two years environmental regulations in the European Union will start to kick in and wool with residues over 5 ppm will face market access problems.

For farmers who have louse problems this season, Stu says hand-jetting or plunge dipping at weaning may need to be considered as a last resort. "But if you do this, you should expect dip residues in the range of 15-180 ppm at shearing! So only dip the worst-affected mobs." FQP farmers in this situation need to keep their dip diaries up to date and make sure that wool from the treated sheep is not sold as ‘quality assured’.

2. Price discovery on Woolnet

Woolnet now has a nifty price discovery option. Added to the site in October, it allows sellers and their agents to research market prices for a particular wool type over a specified period.

The option needs to be used with care. For instance, because of the marked fall in auction prices in the last fortnight, prices two or three weeks old greatly overstate the current market. Also some quality parameters have a big impact on price. A good example is the current 50-60 c/kg differential between wools of 32 and 33 micron. That's because there has been purchase pressure on Chinese contracts which have a cut-off at 32.4 microns. Keep a close eye upon fluctuations in the NZ/USA dollar rate because they have a direct effect on export wool prices. Significant changes can happen on a daily basis.

You do have to be registered with Woolnet to use this feature. Click here to visit the Woolnet site.

3. A prick of a problem

While we’re talking about quality issues, WoolPro quality systems manager Kelvin Whall wants to get the message across that thistle heads are a big no-no in wool. Mills in Europe are hurting badly. Thistle heads ruin yarn and cannot be removed during processing.

Some mill managers, especially those who have been buying greater quantities of NZ carpet wool, feel they are being personally let down by NZ farmers and exporters. While two droughts, followed by a lush growing season, led to an explosion in thistle numbers last season, you can’t explain that to a mill owner in Belgium.

Kelvin says farmers should take care to spray or remove thistles from their farms and to avoid grazing sheep in thistle-ridden paddocks. Special care also needs to be taken at the last line of defence – in the woolshed. Otherwise, because they don’t weigh much and don’t occupy much space, thistle heads can easily get through coring, testing, appraisal and scouring without being detected.

Quality carpet wool which is free of thistle and has a VM of 0.1 per cent or less, typically sells for 40 c/kg more than similar wools with thistles present.

4. Woolnet features at e-commerce seminar

The farming sector may have had little exposure at the government’s business forum, but it was centre-stage at the high profile e-commerce seminar a fortnight later.

A presentation on Woolnet by WoolPro general manager Lance Wiggins was one of the keynote addresses. Woolnet was also praised by one of the international e-commerce gurus who spoke at the seminar for having all the features of a successful e-commerce platform.(We knew that, but it was nice to have someone else say it!)

5. In-shed testing back

There was a bit of an uproar a few weeks back when the National Council of Wool Interests pulled the plug on the in-shed testing of wool for sale. Well, the uproar is over and in-shed testing is now back under very tight criteria.

If you want your wool tested for sale in the shed, contact one of the two test houses
-- SGS or NZWTA --- or ring David Webster or Lara Russell at the Woolnet Helpdesk, Freephone 0800 4 WOOLNET (0800 496 656), or email them at info@woolnet.co.nz. They will put you in contact with a local service provider.

6. Strange rules

Most farmers using Woolnet are not only strangers to the world of e-commerce, in many cases they’re entering the world of trading for the first time. A few tips:

• When selling wool on your own behalf for a negotiated price, always respond to an offer from a buyer, preferably the same business day. Unless you come back with a response (yes/no/more), the buyer is in limbo. Remember, many (but not all) buyers expect to negotiate on price. If they don’t hear from you, they can’t offer more.

• Woolnet is good, but don’t expect it to routinely get you 20 c/kg above the market on the day. In fact, you will only annoy buyers if you reject a series of genuine offers. If you are hanging out for a big increase in the market price, fair enough. But if you do this, list your wool for an open fixed price, so buyers know where they stand.

• If you want your service provider to sell your wool on Woolnet, make sure they’re true Woolnet supporters. We’ve been getting back reports from farmers who thought their service provider was offering their wool on Woolnet, but it was actually sold by other means.

7. Free wool valuations

For the last six months, WoolPro has been providing farmers with free wool appraisals and valuations as an awareness building exercise.

Starting December, this service will be provided free only to sellers who list their wool on Woolnet. The service will still be available to farmers selling by other means, but for $10 incl GST a sample.

8. Comments welcome

If you have any comments or suggestions about the Bledisloe Bulletin, or any aspect of WoolPro or Woolnet activities please let us know. Also, story ideas for Wool Grower magazine or No 8 Wired Television are always welcome.

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Thank you for your interest.