Season buoys confidence for Southern Victorian Merino Fields Days

A fantastic season and livestock market has put a silver lining on the wool market and buyer confidence for studs involved in the Southern Victorian Merino Fields Days.

DESPITE the uncertainty surrounding the current wool market Southern Victorian Merino Field Days president Pat Millear says there is a lot to be positive about this year.

With a fantastic season underway across all the major breeding areas of southern Victoria Mr Millear said there was still confidence among vendors and clients alike, with an abundance of feed in the paddocks.

“Surplus sheep and livestock are making really good money at the moment so generally I think most people are confident it’s going to be another successful field day and sales week,” he said.

“The wool market, like most global markets, is out of everyone’s hands so people just need to stick to their breeding program and the wool market will eventually picks up.”

From 500 to 700 rams will be available across all the eight studs involved in this year’s Southern Victorian Merino Field Days group.

Mr Millear said this year has been a turbulent time for the industry with the effects of COVID-19 playing out on the global wool market as well as the ongoing restrictions cancelling and restructuring many ram sales.

“There was that question mark beside the field day up until recently. We were looking at possibly not even having a field day and having all the auctions on AuctionsPlus,” Mr Millear said.

“I think we’re fortunate to be on the back end of the sales calendar. We’ll still have all the relevant COVID restrictions in place but we’re really lucky to have it now be running mostly business as usual.”

Long-time field day participant Ioness Poll will be presenting 50 rams at the field day next week which will be available for purchase by private selection on the day.

Stud principal Rob Coutts said after strong sales last year, with the tops making $1200 a head, the stud has retained their focus on producing good dual-purpose sheep to cater to bother the wool and meat markets.

“We’ve got big, plain bodied poll Merinos shearing every six months and getting 70mm to 80mm of wool growth in that time with an 18-micron average,” Mr Coutts said.

Mr Coutts said despite the uncertainty in the wool market currently they are “still quite positive”.

“I think once COVID is under control more (the wool market) won’t be a problem and with strong meat sales at the moment and high fertility sheep producing lots of lambs you can’t really go wrong”.

All the studs involved with the Southern Victorian Merino Field Days will be open from 9am to 5pm on October 16 for the field day with the on-property sales commencing the following week.

online artwork october 7 southerm merino