There has been a shake-up in the roster at a major meat processing plant this year, as it looks to clear a backlog of lambs waiting to enter the market.
Bunbury-based V&V Walsh has ramped up production since December, moving from a five to six-day working week, twice a month.
It comes at a time when WA producers are struggling to offload sheep, with low market prices, limited turn-off options, and feed and water supplies running short in ongoing dry seasonal conditions.
V&V Walsh first introduced a Saturday shift to its schedule last spring to help farmer supplies free up pastures for new season lambs.
At the time, company general manager Brent Dancer told Farm Weekly the processor had not put an end date to the extended working week.
However, it needed to consider the health and safety of staff and be careful not to push the workforce too hard.
"We have continued to work sporadic Saturdays throughout the year," Mr Dancer said.
"We have been processing strong numbers and pushing the facility as much as we can, both staff and capacity wise."
The extra shift has allowed V&V Walsh to turn-off an additional 2500 to 3000-head per week, on top of its usual 22,000-head.
Mr Dancer said the processor had been inundated with calls from both sheep and beef producers looking for kill space, and was trying to find additional capacity where it could.
"The beef side of business has not been as pressing as sheep, but since July we have spent about seven Saturdays processing cattle," he said.
"In sheep this number has been closer to 17 (Saturdays).
"We have been processing mostly lamb, whereas last year there was a lot of mutton pushing through the market."
Mr Dancer said lamb numbers dropped away in the December-January period, off the back of a dry growing season.
He said the lighter lambs looked good liveweight, however were underperforming on the scales at the time.
"They were struggling and weren't dressing out like they normally do," Mr Dancer said.
"As producers started feeding them grain to bring them back up to spec, we saw those numbers return solidly from January-April."
Mr Dancer said there were some positive signs in some of Australia's sheepmeat export markets, including the United States and Middle East, and slow movements in others.
He said the United States had been chasing additional beef and lamb, after it started to rebuild its cattle herd and the Middle East had been consistent and strong.
Both of these countries have added competition to the market, but not at the levels, volumes or prices seen pre-COVID.
"The market is certainly improving from where it has been, which is a positive," Mr Dancer said.
"Unfortunately China is still struggling badly and I think there is another six to nine months of pain still to come.
"While the volume of beef and lamb going into that country is still at record highs, it is all low value products.
"Having spoken to our key customers, there are struggles in terms of the general population's ability to spend money on high end luxuries."
Mr Dancer said the likes of Korea and Japan weren't being pushed too hard in both sheepmeat and beef at the moment.
However, he said trim prices had started to move in beef, with the United States restocking action.
"This will force Japan and Korea to move on beef, but unfortunately not the same levels on the lamb side," Mr Dancer said.
Despite past challenges in sourcing sufficient labour, he said V&V Walsh had been working well.
If anything, he said the company needed to be careful not to burn staff out with the extra Saturday shift.
"It is a fine balance at the moment, we have to be really careful, but something we are conscious of are the issues occurring with the prevailing dry conditions," he said.
"In terms of general numbers, we are holding our own and are pushing the plant as strong as we can to help producers with turn-off."
