Agriculture
20 June, 2023
Good start to industry retention
MOST shearing and woolclassing introduction course students this year were staying in the industry, according to trainer Stuart Neal. Stuart said up to 70 per cent of students in courses in the first months of 2023 had become shearers or...
MOST shearing and woolclassing introduction course students this year were staying in the industry, according to trainer Stuart Neal.
Stuart said up to 70 per cent of students in courses in the first months of 2023 had become shearers or roustabouts.
“Although in the last few months we have seen some farmers looking for advanced training to have the skills needed to tidy up their own sheep without bringing in a shearer when there are still shortages of shearers,” he said.
Stuart last week ran a three-day improvers’ course at Kurting, his third school in the Loddon already this year.
Courses at Pompapiel in March attracted 25 students and he will be back in the area for shearing schools at Wycheproof in August and Wedderburn in September.
“There are still a lot of young people looking to work in the industry. It’s a tough gig and not just all about the money,” Stuart said.
“We still need workers in the industry.”
Among participatants in last week’s school at Geoff Wilson’s Kurting shearing shed was St Arnaud’s Jacob Griffiths.
Jacob was part of last year’s introduction school in Wedderburn and said he had since “been flat out shearing”.