Shearer shortage is fleecing farm profits

Closed borders have triggered an acute national shortage of shearers, leading to wage bidding wars, 15 per cent pay hikes, animal welfare concerns and feared production cuts.

Tasmanian shearer Josh Hazelwood says the lack of workers from overseas and interstate due to border closures is hitting farmers hard. Picture: Amy Brown

Closed borders have triggered an acute national shortage of shearers, leading to wage bidding wars, 15 per cent pay increases, animal welfare concerns and feared production cuts.

WoolProducers Australia told The Weekend Australian a dearth of skilled shearers across all states was being exacerbated by closed state and trans-Tasman borders, preventing the usual spring ­migration of shearers.

The situation was so dire, they said, that growers were considering trying to use a new agricultural visa to bring in untrained workers from the Asia-Pacific region and train them as shearers.

WPA chief executive Jo Hall said the inability of 500 New Zealand shearers, who usually come to Australia in spring, to travel to Australia was a particular problem for the $3.6bn industry.

“Covid has highlighted the ­absolute reliance on about 500 shearers who come from NZ and fit the Australian run in with their commitments back in NZ,” Ms Hall said.

“It’s pure supply and demand. We just simply don’t have enough domestic labour in the wool harvesting industry.

“Shearing is a skilled profession. We can’t have people trained up as shearers in a matter of weeks or months; it’s only something that you can learn through practice over a long period of time.”

State border closures have also prevented the usual drift of shearers from west to east as the peak season unfolds.

The Shearing Contractors ­Association of Australia said the shortage was “a real problem”.

“We will get to the point where we can’t shear all the sheep … it’d be a shame to lose that production capacity,” association secretary Jason Letchford said.

Wool and sheep producers are in many cases paying well over award rates to lure shearers, with a voluntary, temporary 15 per cent lift in award rates agreed to limit “bidding wars” seen in some areas.

The per-sheep pay rate has gone from $3.32 to $3.82. Shearers typically shear 200 sheep in a day – and some up to 400 – meaning a daily wage of $764 to $1528.

“That 15 per cent non-binding increase looks like it’s here to stay in the short-term, until the labour pool expands,” Ms Hall said. “It’s not ideal from a producer perspective. But shearers and wool producers are co-dependent.”

Third generation Tasmanian shearer Josh Hazelwood is seeing the impact of the shortage in the state’s rural heartland, the Midlands. “There are sheds that have got 10 machines in them for 10 blokes to work on them – but only six blokes,” Mr Hazelwood said.

“It’s even worse now the mainland blokes who used to come over and help out can’t get in ­because of Covid.”

Ms Hall said talks were under way about potentially bringing in workers from the Asia-Pacific under the new agricultural visa to train as shearers.

In the meantime, there were also animal welfare considerations arising, she said, with producers forced to stretch out shearing seasons, leaving sheep with thick, heavy fleeces for longer than usual.

This increased the risk of fly strike and could made it difficult for pregnant ewes to carry the weight of their fleeces.

Ms Hall conceded some producers needed to improve working conditions and modernise shearing sheds to help lure and retain shearers. “Covid has highlighted an issue that’s been there for a long time – we are simply not attracting enough young people to the industry,” she said.