The Rabobank Western Australia Sheep & Wool Tour stopped for a group photo at Wagin.
A group of New Zealand farmers have returned from a week-long knowledge tour of Western Australia, bringing home fresh insights into a region undergoing rapid change in its sheep and wool sector.
Running from August 10 to August 16, the knowledge tour provided insights into the unique role Western Australia plays in Australia’s agricultural landscape due to its geographical distance and export-oriented market.
Operations visited included the Australian Wool Exchange in Bibra Lake, Peel Feedlot in Mardella, Hillcroft Farms near Narrogin, Elders Wool Store in Rockingham and Yarranabee Pastoral in Highbury.
The Kiwi participants were farming couples Ele and Grant Ludemann from North Otago, Nelson and Fiona Hancox from West Otago, Murray and Ruby Baird from Southland, Alex and Sarah Kyle from the Wairarapa, and father and son Whatarangi Murphy-Peehi and Whatarangi Biel-Peehi from Tangiwai.
The full 27-strong group included 11 Australian-based farmers and Rabobank staff, including NZ-based RaboResearch senior analyst Jen Corkran.
Corkran said the Western Australian tour was the latest in a series of tours run by Rabobank in regions around the globe to share knowledge, expertise and international networks with clients.
She said the tours gave farmers the chance to step away from their businesses, engage with peers and expose themselves to different thinking and insights.
“The tour group bonded together really quickly, and the even split of Kiwi and Aussie farmers ensured plenty of robust discussion.”
Corkran said the Western Australian sheep sector had been undergoing a “major shift” over recent years.
“[This is] driven by the phase-out of live export and evolving farm systems that must fit into the climatic environment.”
Corkran said sheep numbers were declining in Western Australia, with a noticeable move in some instances, away from wool breeds toward meat and shedding breeds.
“However, the Merino flock is still very much a part of the system.”
She said the tour highlighted the innovation, resilience and changes in strategic direction demonstrated by farmers throughout Western Australia’s food and agri supply chain as they adapted to the transforming environment.
“Several of the New Zealand producers observed strong parallels between the current situation in Western Australia and their own challenges, especially around wool viability and flock reduction,” she said.
“The New Zealand-based farmers and I were able to gain some valuable insights by comparing systems, questioning approaches and exploring new ideas.”
Tapanui-based farmers Nelson and Fiona Hancox said they’d signed up for the tour to find out more about what was happening in the Western Australian sheep sector and how this might impact their own operation.
Fiona said this included any risks or potential upside for New Zealand lamb producers.
“We also wanted to find out if there were opportunities for the New Zealand and Australia sheep industries to work closer together.”
The Hancoxs run a sheep and beef operation, with family and staff, comprising 27,000 ewes and 500 Angus cows.
They said one of their key takeaways from the tour was the potential opportunity that lower sheep numbers in Western Australia created for New Zealand producers.
“Their summer is like our [South Island] winter, with nil growth,” Nelson said.
“They are starting to grain feed, in feed-lots and grow finishing crops for lambs, to hold for the meat processors.
“The lamb numbers are dropping quickly with everyone increasing cropping area, even traditional sheep properties are expanding crop area.”
Fiona said that, from what they’d seen on tour, the couple remained optimistic about the prospects for New Zealand’s sheep industry.
“The tour helped reinforce that it’s just New Zealand and Australia competing for global sheep meat exports and, with Western Australian sheep numbers declining and a global shortage of lamb looming, we’re now looking at increasing our sheep numbers or kilograms of lamb meat sold per hectare.”
North Otago-based Grant and Ele Ludemann own EGL Pastoral Group, a large-scale farming business of lamb finishing, breeding and dairy properties.
Grant said the couple learnt “a heck of a lot” on the tour.
“It was a fantastic week, and a camaraderie quickly built up among the tour participants.
Grant said he found the feed lotting of particular interest.
“I enjoyed learning more about how they‘re incorporating this into their systems to help combat the Mediterranean-style weather climate.”
He said he was also interested in how much of Australia’s lamb production was locally consumed.
“In New Zealand, this figure is only about 5%, but in Australia it’s much higher at around 35%,” he said.
In addition, Grant said he found it useful learning about the different machinery being used on Western Australian farms.
“One of the farms we visited was using some lamb weighing scales that allow for real-time weight monitoring directly from the paddock,” he said.
“I haven’t seen this technology available in New Zealand before, and I’m now investigating purchasing some of these scales for our own operation.”