Farmers and contractors scrambling to manage shearer shortage as peak demand hits

A Statewide shearer shortage has left farmers taking extra measures to avoid animal welfare issues as summer approaches. WA Shearing Industry Association president Darren Spencer said shearing contractors were about 180 staff short on normal years. The usual supply of New Zealand and Eastern States workers can not enter the State due to COVID-19 restrictions. The industry is also down by a similar number of shed staff, who are also usually foreign or interstate workers. Farmers typically get their sheep shorn in September and October, before summer when flies worsen and ahead of their grain harvest. In extreme cases, delayed shearing could lead to animal welfare issues if flystrike took hold. However, Mr Spencer said efforts were being made to “keep sheep clean” though crutching, a process of removing wool around the tail. “Crutching crews are flat out,” Mr Spencer said. The smaller pool of shearers available to WA is doing its best to keep up with demand. But Mr Spencer said it was “inevitable” for some farmers that shearing would be pushed back this year due to the lack of workers. He said there had been no exemptions to allow shearers into WA. Costs would be prohibitive in any case. Nationals WA agriculture spokesman Colin de Grussa said the party had warned Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan as far back as April that the shortage of agricultural workers would greatly impact the sector.