Wool Growing

Rob Egerton-Warburton, who has farmed for nearly 30 years running 20,000 merino sheep in the industry's WA heartland, says now that the live export ban is legislated the industry should look to fresh opportunities to survive.

A statewide feed shortage, off the back of a brutally dry summer, is seeing an increasing number of sheep orphaned across the state's farming regions.

Forget the Paris Olympics, two young people from the Australian sheep industry have claimed prizes at the World Young Shepherds competition held in France.

While pushed as a sustainable source for clothing, hemp producers say a complex web of rules and regulations — including going through the office of drug control — make it hard for them to meet demands from the fashion industry.

David Pendleton makes and sells blankets, bags and pillows from recycled wool, but he has to source the fabric from India. He and others say it's time that changed.

Charles Sturt University researchers say synthetic graphite made from hair and wool offcuts could help meet growing demand for the mineral, which is used to make lithium-ion batteries.

The 31-year-old NSW shearer has set the first Australian women's merino shearing record for the most ewes shorn in an eight-hour period.

Tasmania's Waverley Woollen Mills survived the Great Depression, both world wars and several near-closures. Can Australia's oldest continuously operating textile mill spin onwards into the next century?

Forget chess and debating clubs, in an old shed in Western Australia, these county kids are competing in merino wool judging to prepare them for life on the land.

For 12-year-old Sam Frost, the Sydney Royal Easter Show is always a fun time of year, but this year parading his Merino ewe called Ally felt extra special.

An academic-turned-farmer who stopped a flock of Angora goats from going to the slaughterhouse hopes to use genetic breeding to extend the number of years they can produce high-quality fleece.

Sam Wan is one of thousands of women flocking to agriculture industries, representing almost two-thirds of its overall expansion, and taking up roles that were once the domain of men.

Robin Rogers is a woolshed cleaner. Not inside the shed where the action usually happens, but under it, where at shearing time the dung falls through the grated floor of the holding pens, accumulating slowly over the years.

Jak Rice went to shearing school hoping to build a career in wool, but what started as a necessity quickly became a passion as he works to improve his daily tally.

Nicolas Hardy arrived in Australia at the peak of a shearer shortage and "went to the sheds" to back up the wool industry. Three years later, his employer wants to keep him but his visa options are running out.

Pub manager Linda Boylan said many of her "regular bar flies" hadn't seen a sheep being shorn up close before, and flocked to the pub where it was standing room only.

Tasmania's textile industry thrived soon after this iconic wool mill opened its doors in 1923. As the building's centenary is celebrated, former workers reflect on their time at Patons & Baldwins.

The thought of working and rejoining his shearing team kept Corey Bolt positive during treatment. Now, he's easing back into the physically demanding role.

Queensland carpenter Jason Porter is giving precious pieces of farming history new life — and new jobs — as glass-topped dining tables.

New Zealand is known for its jaw-dropping scenery, first-class food and wine, and sheep — lots of them. But their flock is now a third of what it was 40 years ago, and Aussies are stepping in with plenty of merino wool to sell.

Australian merino wool products could become more boutique and harder to source, if a forecast decline in Western Australia's sheep flock comes to fruition.

Post lockdown, people are not quitting knitting and Meaghan Williams meets their demand by selling homegrown, hand-dyed yarn straight from her farm in north-east Victoria.

Seven out of 10 wool classing trainees in Australia are now women — and 21-year-old Cally Spangler is one of them. It's a trend the industry is embracing as it looks to renew its ageing workforce.

Ageing farmers, tree changers, and fewer shearers drive the transition towards sheep that shed rather than needing to be shorn.

A joint training program by TAFE NSW and the education department is opening pathways for high school students to learn about hard work in the shearing sheds.