Ross has no plans to stop working completely.
“I'm available to do ram selections and wool preparation for those farmers who want me, and also quality control with shearing contractors.
“I feel that what I have gained with my farming experience, and what I have gained from the wool industry, should not go to waste.
“I want to continue to pass on that knowledge.”
Ross managed Manawanui Station at Matawai for 25 years prior to going into the wool industry.
“While I was up there at Matawai I was always keen on wool.
“I learned a lot while on a working holiday in Australia, working in shearing sheds alongside an Aussie wool classer. That was in the mid-1960s.”
Ross said wool had always been a “fascination” for him.
“It's such a fabulous product. It's so versatile in terms of what can be done with it.”
Ross said it was unfortunate that so much of the wool focus in the North Island was on crossbred stronger wool, as opposed to the finer wools off merino sheep in the South Island.
“The merino wools go into clothing and the stronger wools predominantly go into carpets.”
Ross runs a small merino flock on the family property on Back Ormond Road.
“It's a paying hobby for me. I get a hang of a kick out of it, seeing what beautiful merino fleeces can be produced here in Gisborne.”
He currently has 35 merino ewes in-lamb and a sole ram to service the flock.
Ross enters his merino fleeces every year at the Gisborne A&P Spring Show, and has won the merino section for close to 10 years.
He has been head steward in the wool section at the Show since 1989 and was involved in that aspect for the town and country get-together from the 1960s.
“I intend to carry on my involvement with the wool section at the Show. I enjoy it very much.”
Dog trials will get more of his time now.
“That's something else I'm very keen on,” he says.
He commentates on dog trials in the district on Newstalk ZB's Saturday morning Larsawn Gisborne Sports Show.
Ross said his wife Lyn got used to having her husband at home more often during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“It brought back memories of us both working together on the farm at Matawai. She is happy I'm going to spend more time at home.”
Ross has watched the wool industry closely for half-a-century.
“Wool prices are terrible at the moment, and the chips are down when it comes to the value of wool.
“But I feel that's the time when you've got to dig deep, and not let quality slip.
“Quality wool will always sell, even on a low market.”
Ross points out that it would cost farmers the same money to shear a bad-woolled sheep as a good one.
“I'd like to see that farmers don't just let wool production and quality go.”
He believes the wool industry could rebound in terms of the value of the product.
“It's just a bit hard at the moment, because of Covid-19, to predict when that rebound might happen.
“But at least the Chinese are still operating at a time when wool industries in a lot of countries are at low capacity because of the pandemic.
“We only supply about one and a half percent of our wool to China. So it would be good to see that grow.
“I hope it does, because that will help our wool industry rebound.”
