Last year due to Covid the New Zealand Agricultural Show was cancelled. This year, all being well, the 159th edition will take place in Christchurch in the second week of November. For the past few years the South Island wool sale has left the PGG Wrightson auction room for a single day, to be conducted fully on display and in the public gaze as part of the South Island’s biggest agricultural event.

This year the buyers, samples and auction officials will again make the four kilometre trek to the Canterbury Agricultural Park, and the drama of the wool auction will play out in the public domain for all to witness.

Fine wool will be the sole focus for this auction, with a minimum of 700 bales of the highest quality merino fleece required to make it worthwhile for buyers to step out in public and go into battle at the auction. 

This is an excellent event to be part of: each time the auction has gone on the road the outcome has been more than satisfactory, and the most successful sale on the annual calendar. In 2019 the sale was well supported, the viewing gallery was standing room only attracting wide interest from wool growers and the general public, a number of fine wool growers held wool back for this particular sale, and a total of $7.2 million dollars was turned over in the five hours of selling.

Fine wool businesses and high country runs farming merinos have a great opportunity to raise their public profile in a setting where the theatre of the auction is on display. Growers seeking to offer their clip at this event, on Thursday 11 November, should contact their PGG Wrightson wool representative or Dave Burridge, PGG Wrightson Wool South Island Auction Manager on 03 343 8094 or 0274 793 779.