Western Queensland shearing contractors battle labour shortages and rain delays

Thanks to what Longreach NGS shearing manager Dave Grant describes as a "bloody good season", sheep numbers are probably 10 per cent higher than they have been in recent years as graziers hold on to dry sheep they'd normally sell, coupled with good lambings coming through.

With an estimated 18 days lost to rain, recruits have been brought in from southern states, making four NGS teams at work this week across an area ranging from Isisford to Aramac and west to Winton.

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"We've got 50 people working for us in western Queensland at the moment," Mr Grant said.

The frantic effort to get the wool clip off while the weather holds hasn't been subjected to the price war down south, where shearers have been demanding $4 a head, or more, thanks in part to Kiwis not being able to cross the ditch to boost the Australian workforce until recently.

Although the sheep in western Queensland are by and large in strong condition and cutting good wool, they're generally easier shearing, resulting in a per head rate of around $3.65.

Giving shearers guaranteed work for six to eight weeks has been key to enticing them north, Nutrien's wool account manager Bob Tully said.

"We've got a smaller pond to pull workers - shearers, shedhands, cooks, classers - out of," he said.

"Once upon a time you could drive to town and get someone out of the pub but that doesn't happen anymore.

"Interstate people are coming here but it's got to be worth their while, they don't just want five or six days' work.

"And the price of fuel is hurting too - you do big miles up here to get to sheds."

Mr Tully added that the labour shortage was hurting producers trying to muster mobs and process sheep after shearing as well.

He said while the clip wasn't showing adverse affects of rain or burr, as the heads hadn't yet dried off, people were beginning to report more lice infestations.

"We haven't seen that for a few years, thanks to exclusion fences and the dry, but it's starting to poke its head up," he said. "That means it must have been there all the time."

He believed discounts for vegetable matter would be more likely in clips shorn in the spring or next year, and would contribute to the biggest price discount.

"The wool coming off now is looking good," he said.

Mr Grant estimated most flocks were cutting half to one kilogram more wool than they had been, including wethers cutting 7.5 to 8kg.