Woolclip shaping up to be a fine yarn

Fleeces were looking lustrous, white and bright inside the McGuire family’s Jingalup woolshed last week, where shearing was under way after a dry season. Woolgrower Richard McGuire said he was pleased with how contractor Jury Shearing was handling the wool shorn from his family’s mixed-aged ewes. Jury Shearing wool classer Bobbi Hellinge said the McGuire’s woolclip had some mid-breaks but there was some good soundness in the wool. When Countryman visited, shearer Dalla Robin was tallying up 200 shorn fleeces for the day. Mr McGuire said he had been using Merinotech bloodlines for 25 years with good results. “They offer the most measurements on their rams and have good dual-purpose types for meat and wool,” he said. The McGuires’ farm had late starts for the last three years. “The feed has been alright, but we haven’t had enough run-off into the dams,” Mr McGuire said. “Water will be an issue this summer.” Mr McGuire, who runs the farm with his wife Samantha and brother Ashley, said they produced an 18 micron average woolclip. “We pregnancy scan and separate the multiple birth ewes from the singles,” he said. “The flock began lambing in July and this year we had 98 per cent lambing.” One of the changes this year involved a decision to cease mulesing, aided by the strong breech strike resistant traits from Merinotech bloodlines. “We have to go that way,” Mr McGuire said. “With China putting tariffs on barley, wine and cotton, they could do something irrational like only buy non-mulsed wool.” Post shearing, the farm’s October and November shorn wool would be sent to the Dyson Jones wool stores and sold at an appropriate time. “Gavin Shepherd at Dyson Jones has always had a good read on the market,” he said. “I am hoping with winter in Europe soon, wool fabric orders will pick up.”