One bright spot on the otherwise lacklustre crossbred wool market has been lambswool, particularly at the finer end.

Tim Poulton farms 4500 breeding ewes plus replacements at Kumeroa, east of Woodville, and was pleasantly surprised at the price his lambswool earned at sale in mid March.

“We received $7.40/Kg Clean for 27.5 micron lambswool. That stood out like a beacon next to the other wool types, which were all around or slightly more than the $2 - $3/kg clean mark. Our sheep are Headwaters, a composite breed developed in the South Island to suit high country farming. We lamb from mid-September through to late October, and shear the lambs in mid to late January, so they are still relatively young. We don’t clip a lot of wool, and only took 2856 kilograms from 3684 lambs. It had low colour, nice and clean, though the low micron was what really appealed.

“Like every other crossbred farmer, I’m extremely disappointed with the state of the industry. We struggle to cover costs from our wool income. If you can cover shearing, dagging and preparation from what you make for your wool, you are probably doing well, so the price our lambswool made was a welcome bonus, even though our overall wool income still fell short of costs,” said Tim.