Media Release
Results of Australian sheep producer survey
23 May 2007
A national survey of over 1800 Australian sheep producers has been conducted, to provide information to the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) Wool Production Forecasting Committee.
Producers were asked about seasonal conditions, flock composition and their intentions for the coming season.
Conducted in February 2007 by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), the survey revealed Merinos made up 88 per cent of the sheep older than 12 months old on the surveyed properties.
Kimbal Curtis, from DAFWA said the results show Merino sheep continue to provide the backbone of the Australian flock in terms of producing wool and prime lambs through both pure breeding and crossbreeding systems.
“I would like to thank all the producers who took part in the survey. This direct input from the growers is vital to the Wool Production Forecasting Committee, as the survey results provide an objective assessment of conditions in all regions and producer intentions, which guide early forecasts for the following season,” said Mr Curtis.
“The producers surveyed collectively produced about 27.3million kilograms of wool from a total of 5million adult sheep and 1.9million lambs shorn during 2005/2006. This represents 5.9 per cent of Australian wool production and 6.5 per cent of the adult sheep and lambs shorn in this period.
“In terms of seasonal conditions in February 2007, 66 per cent of producers reported being in drought.
“While the current drought has certainly meant that re-building the flock will take a number of years; 72 per cent of all sheep in Australia are ewes which mean the flock could recover relatively quickly.”
AWI General Manager Wool Production, Ian Rogan said the trend toward crossbreeding for prime lamb production appears to have reached its plateau.
“Grower intentions to increase prime lamb production are now almost matched by the intent to increase Merino production,” said Mr Rogan.
“This is possibly due to a combination of recovering wool prices, the desire to maintain the number of self-replacing Merinos and the uncertainty caused by the current drought.
“75 per cent of producers intended to maintain their current mix of wool and prime lamb production, while 11 per cent intended to move more toward prime lamb and 7 per cent toward more wool production. This is a significant change from what we were hearing 2 years ago.”
Please visit Wool production forecasts to view the full survey.
Released by:
Released by: Sally Davison – AWI Corporate Affairs – (02) 9299 5155 or 0428 295 898.