AN annual trip to Perth to watch their December-shorn wool clip sold proved very rewarding for fine wool producers Chris and Pauline Norton, CA & PE Norton, Chorkerup, last week.
They achieved their best results yet, selling all 10 of their McMurray/Chorkerup Merino fleece lines from a December shearing at an average price of 2432 cents per kilogram greasy at the Western Wool Centre (WWC) on the first trading day last week.
The Nortons watched a live video feed of the sale on a screen in the boardroom of Nutrien Ag Solutions' wool office, next door to the WWC, as broker and auctioneer Mark Goodall knocked down each of their Merino fleece lots, which ranged from 14.5 micron to 16 micron wools, for at least 2000c/kg or better.
Their top line, a special single-bale lot of 14.5 micron hogget wool topped the sale at 3100c/kg (4128c/kg clean) with buyer Rob Bowers working hard to secure it for Sequoia Materials Industry Group, a Melbourne-based trader first registered last year, against competitive bids from Techwool Trading and Meliwa.
The wool had specifications of 84 millimetres staple length, 32N/kt staple strength, very low 0.2 per cent vegetable matter content and a yield of 75.1pc.
After the sale Mr Norton said the couple were "ecstatic with the result - it's the best we've ever done".
"We've done the trip (to the WWC to watch their clip sold) every year - even in the bad years," Mr Norton said.
"Most years you go home with a smile but some years you go home saying to yourself 'What the hell are we doing?'
"It's that big wheel going around again."
The Nortons farm with son Jarrad and Mr Norton's mother Doreen who is better known as 'Terry'.
Jarrad is the fourth generation on the farm.
The Nortons run about 2000 Merino breeding ewes and 500 crossbred ewes.
"It's been an interesting year - way too wet in the middle, we had a lot of waterlogging issues - but for our country it turned out good," Mr Norton said.
"We had a lot of feed at the end and of course the rain kept the wool clean so the yield is up as well.
"Ours (wool) is bred fine, it's a Superfine line that we go on so our average micron doesn't move very much.
"I started it (breeding for superfine wool) with my dad (Eric) who is no longer with us, so there has been 40 years of arriving to get here - it doesn't happen quickly.
"The hardest part now with COVID is sourcing rams.
"Our place of market now is over east and it's almost impossible to go and see them (rams), you have to buy them sight unseen and trust the people you are buying them from.
"You can look at the pedigree and all the wool test data, but the one thing you can't do is feel the wool."
The Nortons capitalised on a strong first trading day last week when the Western Market Index (WMI) added 17c to 1456c/kg clean and there were increases of between 15c and 36c across the Merino fleece micron spectrum, with the finer end doing better.
On the second day the market decided a correction was needed after the first three trading days of this year, seeing good price rises.
The correction took all of the previous day's gains, plus a little bit more, across most of the micron segments.
The result was the WMI finished down 3c for the week at 1436c/kg, while micron segment losses ranged from 14c (19 micron to 1662c/kg) to just 1c (18.5 micron to 1886c/kg).
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