“There’s no good news out of Primary ITO so it comes back to the industry,” he said after this year’s Wool Classers Association annual meeting and field day in Christchurch, where he was a guest speaker.
It and farmers have to take ownership of industry training and make it work.
One of the country’s biggest sheep farmers at his family-owned Ngamatea Station in western Hawke’s Bay and Campaign For Wool chairman in NZ, Apatu is also a qualified wool classer who says he’s waiting for a shearing course when one is available.
The latest shearer training operator, Te Ako, recently ended its involvement after Primary ITO withdrew its contract.
Apatu is talking to major shearing contractors in the central North Island about changes needed to make the industry more sustainable.
More pay for shearing and improved working conditions such as better light and ventilation in wool sheds look like being necessary to make it easier to attract workers.
“In terms of pay and conditions, I’ve been lagging in that. I put my hand up. We have to do better.
“That might be hard to take for farmers in the depressed crossbred market but a major concern on sustainability is getting the wool out of the shed. That is the reality.”
Association chairman Bill Dowle told the annual meeting the loss of the Te Ako’s programme is another blow to industry training.
“We desperately need someone to get this going and stay there for the long period.
“It is difficult enough getting some of our handlers to take up the theoretical side of training without the changes that keep happening.”
Without this happening, he believes the industry could disappear, especially with low crossbred wool prices but the urged participants to persist and ensure proper standards of preparation and presentation of what is a great fibre.
“Perhaps we should be talking more of the discount for poor preparation and presentation, rather than the bonus from the good.”
Ngamatea Station produces about 1000 bales of wool a year and for the last three years has had a supply agreement with United States rug maker Delos though Apatu says the business is still fully exposed to the weak crossbred wool market.
Two qualified wool classers are always in the shed at shearing time. He is one of them, following the example of his mother. The family link with wool is part of the heritage driving his passion for it.
Wool classing is a crucial part of producing a high-grade fleece for market though he’s not sure it adds a price premium.
“I’d like to think so but we don’t have a second, unclassed clip to compare it with.
“But I stand by it as it provides a tick in the catalogue so that buyers know it is properly prepared and the pen stains, black wools and raddle marks are taken out and means they can bid with some confidence.”
If there is a premium for Ngamatea wool it is probably from the volumes its produces, he says.
It is also important to spend time in the shed to understand the work of shearers and handling staff.
Apatu says he doesn’t know if he’s on a sinking ship or leading a renaissance.
“When I’m on the farm and dealing with low prices I can get despondent but when I’m out on the Campaign for Wool and seeing what is being done round the world, it is very lifting.”
While there are a number of small initiatives in the crossbred sector it still needs to provide an emotional link with consumers, in the way fine wools have prospered.
Further out, there are early-stage initiatives towards breeding sheep without wool and sheep without wool on the bellies and breaches.
The latter development would reduce wool volumes by about 30% but take away the more costly and time-consuming part of management.
