Shearer training centre nears completion

The new shearer training facility at the Falkiner Memorial Field Station near Conargo, NSW has been developed by Australian Wool Innovation and is expected to be up and running by May.

The facility will cater for up to 18 people on-site at the shearing schools, housed in three refurbished cottages.

An AWI spokesman said the refurbishment of the cottages will be completed by May and the first shearing schools on site will be held soon afterwards.

The centre is being developed by AWI in a bid to help address labour issues as the ongoing shearer shortage continuing to be a major concern across the industry.

Work on the facility began last year, with the plans first revealed in a Senate estimates hearing in February 2022.

AWI currently has a call out for expressions of interest to lease the Falkiner Memorial Field Station after the expiration of the current lease, with the condition that the lessee work together with AWI in regards to the establishment and maintenance of the facility.

The centre is just part of Australian Wool Innovation's work to address the shearer shortage, including the commercial development of a modular race delivery system.

At Senate Estimates last month, AWI chairman Jock Laurie said expenditure in other areas had been reduced as more funds went towards solving the labour issues.

"The information that we're getting is that we need to get the wool off the sheep, and if we can't get the wool off the sheep then all the other problems around it aren't quite as big," he said.

"So, we need to train people, get them into the sheds and support them in the sheds and do all the research we can to apply pressure to the market down the track."