PALLAMANA farmer Darren Kubenk finished shearing late last month and said he planned to sell within the month, regardless of whether the market was up or down.
With local shearers, he finished shearing 1600 ewes and Merino lambs on August 26 and recently received the results back.
"I can't see prices changing dramatically in the short-term and I don't want to hold off for better prices because a lot of people would be doing that," he said.
Mr Kubenk said he last sold wool in March, just before COVID-19 kicked in.
"The best we got was 1400 cents a kilogram, the worst 1200c/kg. Now, we're hoping we get 700c/kg," he said.
Mr Kubenk changed to six-monthly shearing 2.5 years ago to capitalise on the once-high wool prices. This is their fifth shearing in that time.
"We also found the ewes held their condition better and look after their lambs better," he said.
"Obviously eight-month growth is optimum to buyers, but we thought shearing would always clash with something, so the six months works in with our seeding and harvest.
"We shear at the beginning of February and then again in mid-August."
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Mr Kubenk said they averaged about 70 millimetres length on their ewes with lambs and about 80mm on their hoggets.
"Wool buyers like an 80mm length, so we are trying to get to that on average," he said.
"But for now, we are cutting about 1.5kg more per sheep over the 12 months, so that offsets any drop in price."
Six-monthly shearing has also improved their animal husbandry, Mr Kubenk said.
"We haven't had to crutch for two years, which saves us a job," he said.
Mr Kubenk said the season had been tracking well, with a good early break in April of 40mm and follow-up rains in August.
It has resulted in their best-ever lambing, with crossbreds dropping 120 per cent and Merinos 109pc.
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