Wool producers in the Western Plains area have long been reporting significant shearer and shed hand shortages, a problem that has been escalating industry-wide as working-age Australians are opting out of the labour-intensive work despite the big pay days on offer. There are currently only about 2000 working shearers in Australia, down from 10,000 30 years ago.

Now stakeholders across Australia are holding hopes that new chemical de-fleecing methods will mark a turning point for the industry.

The Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) is a grower representative body conducting marketing and research into alternative wool harvesting methods. A three-year strategic plan released by the organisation reveals that harvesting wool remains one of the most critical components for all wool-growing operations.

“Shearing is the number one issue that woolgrowers talk to me about, and something I am familiar with as a grower myself," said AWI Chairman Jock Laurie. "It is critically important to get this sorted as quickly as we can."

While investments into mechanical and biological wool harvesting methods have been ongoing for a period of fifty years, with progress being "frustratingly slow," a new breakthrough in biological wool harvesting has many in the industry hopeful that there will be a practical application available very soon.

The most recent discovery is a natural form of chemical de-fleecing that involves providing the animal with a zein protein which is naturally found in Maize (corn). This protein has been proven to weaken the wool staple enough that it can still hold onto the fleece, but sufficiently weak enough so as to allow trouble-free removal.

General Manager of Research at AWI, Jane Littlejohn says that "this is a key point of difference; by having some broken, some unbroken and some unaffected fibres, this allows the fleece to stay on the sheep for a period of up to ten weeks without falling off or needing a net. That's revolutionary."

The only other alternative method of chemical de-fleecing, BioClip, was made available to wool producers in 1998. BioClip requires the use of a net to retain the shedding wool, and uses a vaccination to produce a short-lived elevation of Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) in the sheep, which causes the wool fibres to break within one week.

"What we need is to ensure that the fleece holds on for long enough for the staple to grow that protective few millimetres so that we don’t have the problems that we've had in the past with BioClip where we needed a net to retain the fleece so they didn’t get sunburnt," said Dr Littlejohn.

"When you're dealing with a natural protein like the corn starch rather than having to inject a vaccine the regulatory hurdles will hopefully be slightly different as well." 

The AWI board has now committed $1.4 million to continue research on this project with The University of Adelaide after they were satisfied with the paddock trial results.

"We did a little paddock trial to prove that the wool doesn't fall off in the paddock because that was their main concern. We found there was no loss in kilograms or grams of fleece which has given the board confidence to proceed with the next stage," said Dr Littlejohn.

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have now been tasked with developing both a mechanical plucking device that can break the fibre and remove the fleece from the sheep, and a delivery method to get the correct dose of the maize protein to the sheep in a labour-saving fashion.

"Whether that's achieved as a feed supplement, some sort of oral drench or injectable, from a labour-saving point of view it's got to be a one-off dose," said Dr Littlejohn.

However, Mr Laurie says that “There is no single solution or technological breakthrough that will improve getting the wool off sheep. As an industry we have to work on this from many angles."

AWI Chairman Jock Laurie says the industry needs to explore all options for efficient and affordable wool removal.

While the new breakthroughs in biological defleecing look promising at this stage, AWI have reported that they're also committed to exploring how robotics has the potential to play a significant role in improving the efficiency of existing methods within the broader wool harvesting process as well.

Technology such as sensors in the handpiece will help to measure shearer fatigue and injury risk, as well as providing importance evidence for the adoption of non-robotic interventions. Sheep delivery platform designs also have the potential to be integrated into autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, while applying artificial intelligence to wool classing and skirting could help to reduce the need for shed hands.

"Our focus right now is to get multiple prototypes out there to see what is doing the best for shearer welfare... Some of these inventions are futuristic but we're certainly making some progress," said Dr Littlejohn.

"What's most exciting is that's there are no boundaries anymore."

AWI's three year strategic plan is informed predominantly by their 2030 Roadmap, the Wool 2030 Strategy and the Sheep Sustainability Framework which focus on the need to increase the value of, and demand for wool, the urgency of tackling the shortage of shearing through a variety of methods and the need to address changing consumer demands and expectations.

 To view the full plan visit: https://www.wool.com/globalassets/wool/about-awi/how-we-consult/stakeholder-consultation/awi-strategic-plan-2022-2025.a.pdf