News

Greetings all,

Well, if you’re anything like me you’ve probably spent the beginning of April trying to work out what happened to March. The distance between seasons seems to be ever decreasing and increasingly busy. It’s exciting to be able to communicate with members during a time of consistently strong stock prices. The tight supply on both sides of the country has certainly kept a solid foundation under the market. Those of you with Merino based flocks I’m sure would also be buoyed by the recent gains in the wool market. It would be great to think that we are seeing a new base for wool pricing, as I feel this has been a missing piece of the whole flock dynamic over recent times.

I hope most of you have had some worthwhile rain over the last few weeks, and for those that have missed out I hope it’s not too far away. A follow-up in the early areas of course will be critical but will go a long way to ensuring some good pasture establishment and subsequent growth. It has been a while since many of the growing regions have seen a solid early break.

Global shocks such as the one we’re enduring now seem to be becoming part of the landscape, each one bringing its unique set of challenges. For those with cropping programs the stress and anxiety levels around inputs are understandably high. Personally, from a cropping perspective the early rains haven’t quite triggered the same levels of optimism they traditionally would have. Everyone handles these scenarios differently and I would suggest there’s probably no better time to check in on neighbours, friends and family members as we all try and negotiate our path through these challenges.

With the change in production costs around cropping and the contrasting vibrancy we are experiencing in meat and wool pricing it has been no surprise to hear many conversations around retention of sheep and even increasing stock numbers to ensure some level of profitability. Clearly the reduction of risk and decrease in exposure to unknown levels of supply and pricing plays an important role. The demand for breeding ewes is strong and whilst expensive, would seem to represent a sound investment at this time.

Whatever path you choose to take to manage your operation I wish you every success over the coming months. In the meantime, please take care of yourselves and those around you and remember that WAMMCO is there to assist you in your livestock operation.

Lastly, I would like to thank Coll and his team for the way they have managed their way through what has also been a challenging period in the processing business. It is a unique operation, and it is in very capable hands.

Warm Regards,

Bill O’Keeffe, Chairman