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Bailey Wereta-McDiarmid feels like she can walk into a fine woolshed and not let the team down after completing a cadetship.
The Alexandra wool handler was among a fine wool class of about 20 trainees graduating from the ZQ Shearing and Wool Handling Training Programme.
The cadetship is run each year to attract new shearing and wool handling talent, strengthen their technical skills and promote high professional, animal welfare and other standards.
Ms Wereta-McDiarmid had previously only worked with crossbred wool.
She was grateful for her employer, Scott Cameron from Cameron Shearing, for giving her the opportunity to get her fine wool certificate.
“It was an experience because I had never been in a merino wool shed before and never touched the wool before and going through the programme was pretty cool learning the basics.’’
She said the programme meant she could walk into a merino shed and know what she was doing now.
Her boss sent her to Waimate to get close to super fine merino and she was amazed by the contrast between it and strong wool.
Since starting the course her boss has noticed her confidence levels rise the past few months.
Ms Wereta-McDiarmid, 19, started as a wool handler as an 17-year-old in the South Otago area.
“School wasn’t really going good for me and at the time my Mum had recently passed away too so it got me a job and got me back on my toes and I’ve really stuck with it.’’
As a wool handler she is on the floor working the broom, pick up and tabling the fleece before it goes to the wool press.
With experience, her skills have progressed in identifying and removing vegetation to make sure it is the same length, colour and quality.
She said it was a skilled job and wool handlers had to be alert and quick on their feet all the time to make sure no contamination entered a product before it was exported.
The programme started in July with the intake going to Christchurch overnight.
“We all got to go to the Zentera office, meet everybody and see where the wool was being sent to and what the product was made into. We went to the wool [warehouse] to see what they had done with the bales after they had come from the shearing shed.’’
Initially daunted, she soon got to know the other trainees and found her feet.
She is now looking forward to putting her merino skills to the test and progressing further.
“I still see myself in the wool shed and hopefully heading the wool shed or maybe classing in the future. Maybe when I get that all sorted I might start shearing or maybe go to a different career path. I don’t know, we will see where that goes. It’s just the people that I like about the wool shed. We are there to do the one thing and help one another and we are all like a whānau really. I love how we travel and meet new people everywhere I go.’’
More than 100 people have been through the programme since it started in 2020, with training provided by Elite Wool Industry Training.
The initiative was developed after concerns were raised by farmers about workforce shortages and the long-term sustainability of responsible and high-quality wool harvesting.
Zentera global supply general manager Matt Hand said developing skilled people was critical to the success of the certified wool sector.
He said shearing and wool handling were highly skilled professions and the programme gave participants the foundation they need to do well in the industry.
“We need talented people entering and remaining in our industry who care about responsible wool production, harvesting and preparation and who equally care for animals.”
The programme is funded by Zentera and its brand partner VF Corporation, Ministry for Primary Industries and the New Zealand Wool Testing Authority.
Its continued growth reflected the industry’s commitment to investing in its future, he said.
