Australia’s traditional reputation for ‘riding on the sheep’s back’ has been revived with wool prices surging and the traditional shearer’s life alive and well.
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For young shearers Lance Melbourne and Brad Watts, it is a lucrative and long-term job.
With constant work on the shearing circuit, they say they can bring in up to $100k annually, but the traditional model of father-to-son learning on the family farm is no longer the norm.
“Some of the time you start off rousing (as a rouseabout) and then someone will get you up on the boards and show you how to shear the belly, or finish a sheep off,” Brad said.
“You can start like that and then head to shearing school … most go to shearing school these days.”
In the past, shearing was a short-lived job because of the toll it took on shearer’s backs and bodies.
“That’s the point of going to the shearing schools,” Lance said.
“They teach you how to look after yourself so you can have longer in the job.
“They teach you how to stand, how to balance your weight, even your foot work, so it’s not such a strain on your back. A lot of the older type of shearers don’t last beyond 40 … they are all broken. They’ve been taught the hard way.”
The new breed of shearers have been taught to use special equipment like the sling around their chest to take the strain off their backs.
They are taught how to sharpen and look after their blades and shearing equipment, so it takes the fleeces off the sheep more cleanly and quickly.
Depending on the type and condition, the shearers can do between 150 and 200 sheep a day.
“Sometimes up in the Murray, you’ll get tougher sheep ... denser wool, skin folds, smaller sheep, then you would do less in a day,” Lance said.
The two men are part of the 22-person crew, including a wool classer and a cook, working the shearing circuit.
They shore more than 6000 ewes at the nine-stand shearing stand at Banongil property this week and head to Winchelsea and 22,500 sheep next.
Wool classer Alistair Ross, from Hamilton, started as a rouseabout in the sheds five years ago and has been wool classing for two years.
He trained at TAFE and attended at night after work. “I love this work but you really have to want to do it,” he said.
The crew are housed and fed on the property. “It’s good ... we can have a few beers at night. We normally start at 7.30am and work ‘til 5pm, but it can be a long day if you have to travel.”
“We are actually quite lucky to be still shearing at this point in the season, “ Lance said.
“It’s a bit late … but there’s been so much rain. A lot of the farms have been getting crops in first before shearing.”
By close, at Banongil, the crew had produced more than 300 bales of wool, weighing between 190-200 kilograms.
