Captain Cook landed two Merino sheep in Marlborough in 1773, but they failed to survive. The Rev. Samuel Marsden brought Merino sheep from Australia to the Bay of Islands in 1814, but there is no record of permanent establishment of this flock. The real foundation of the pastoral industry was the importation in 1834 of 105 Merinos from Australia by John Bell Wright, who landed them on Mana Island near Wellington. In the following year he sent a few bags of their wool to Sydney for sale – the beginning of New Zealand's wool industry.
Until refrigeration in 1882 wool was one of the few valuable exports. The early flocks were all Merinos, but it was soon found that they did not thrive in wetter districts and, from about 1850 onwards, English breeds (Leicesters, Lincolns, Romneys, and Southdowns) were introduced. About this time New Zealand developed its own breed of sheep – the now famous Corriedale – since exported to all other important wool-producing countries.
Sheep farms take up nearly half of New Zealand's land area. Much of this land could not be used for any other kind of present farming. Most sheep are on the drier eastern portions of the two Islands; the west coast of the South Island, with its high rainfall, runs very few sheep. The west coast of the North Island is drier and carries more sheep, though not so many as on the east coast; 1964 figures show 41,671 owners of more than 51 million sheep; the average flock size from these figures is approximately 1,200 sheep. This table gives more detail and shows that flocks between 500 and 999 sheep predominate.
| Size of Flock Range of Sheep Numbers | Number of Flocks | Size of Flock Range of Sheep Numbers | Number of Flocks |
| 1– 99 | 5,214 | 1,500–1,999 | 5,105 |
| 100– 199 | 2,744 | 2,000–2,499 | 2,701 |
| 200– 499 | 5,849 | 2,500–4,999 | 3,507 |
| 500– 999 | 7,806 | 5,000–9,999 | 692 |
| 1,000–1,249 | 4,089 | 10,000 and over | 142 |
| 1,250–1,499 | 3,822 |
In general, the most fertile land is reserved for dairying and intensive farming; but only the highest and most barren country supports no sheep at all. Carrying capacity varies greatly. Some of the high country in the South Island, covered with sparse native grasses and tussock, carries maybe one sheep to 10 acres; improved pastures, heavily topdressed, carry six or more sheep to the acre.
Wool-producing farms can be roughly (and conveniently) divided into three groups: (i) High hill country (ii) Hill country (iii) Lowland.
High hill-country farms are mainly in the South Island. They are well up in the mountains, have low fertility, and therefore tend to be large. Nearly all run fine-wool sheep. Merinos are the only sheep which can stand up to the rigorous conditions in the higher parts. Lambing percentages are low, mortality can be very high in bad snowstorms, and almost the only source of income is wool. These farmers therefore pay much attention to the selection of their rams, as they have almost no scope for culling their flocks, and they take good care that their wool is well prepared for market. This is a highly specialised type of farming not closely related to the next two groups.
Hill-country farms are important because of their large total area and the surplus stock they supply to the lowland farms. Although conditions vary widely, farms of this sort would carry, on the average, between one and two sheep an acre. General fertility on these farms had for a long time been steadily declining until aerial topdressing halted or reversed the trend. Romneys and a small proportion of Romney-Cheviot cross are generally carried in the North Island, and mainly Corriedales, half-breds, and a few Merinos in the South. Rams are usually the only stock bought in. The products are wool (still the main income), some store lambs, a few fat wethers and store cattle, and an annual draft of cast-for-age ewes.
Lowland farms, also referred to as fattening farms, are a ready market for these old ewes which are mated with suitable rams for another season or two to produce fat lambs. Such farms are highly fertile and of high carrying capacity. The farmers usually buy in almost all their stock. They sell to the freezing works fat lambs (mostly milk fed off their mothers), fat ewes, and possibly some cattle. Wool used to be regarded as a by-product and received scant attention; but at present, with the price of lambs down by comparison, wool plays a bigger part in the returns.
New Zealand runs a very large number of sheep for its size and produces over 600 million equivalent pounds of greasy wool a year. This includes shorn wool, slipe wool pulled from skins in the freezing works, scoured wool (which has been washed clean) and some wool on sheepskins: 97 per cent is exported to (mainly) Britain, France, and the United States of America. New Zealand ranks first in the world as a producer of crossbred wool, second to Australia as an exporter of wool, and third to Australia and the Soviet Union for total wool produced.
Different breeds of sheep grow different kinds of wool. The wool trade traditionally describes wool by its physical properties – fineness, length, tensile strength, colour, etc., rather than by the breed of sheep that grew it. The only dependable analysis of our clip is published annually by the New Zealand Wool Commission. The latest analysis gives this table:
| (Source: New Zealand Wool Commission) | ||
| Quality Group | Bales | Percentage of Total Sales |
| 60/64s and up | 13,410 | 1 |
| 60s | 10,257 | ¾ |
| 58/60s; 58s; and 56/58s | 87,063 | 6¾ |
| 50/56s; and 56s | 123,362 | 9½ |
| 52s | 55,239 | 4¼ |
| 50s | 128,736 | 10 |
| 48/50s | 125,622 | 9¾ |
| 46/50s and 48s | 405,405 | 31¼ |
| 46/48s | 217,271 | 16¾ |
| 46s and lower | 128,930 | 10 |
| Totals | 1,295,295 | 100 |
The figures given in the first column under “Quality Group” indicate the average fineness of the wool. In general, the higher the “count” or “quality number”, the finer the wool: 60s and upwards represents Merino wool, of which we produce only 2 per cent. A range in quality number (50/56s or 48/50s) indicates that the wool presented for sale is of mixed fineness. Counts 52s up to 58/60s represent half-bred and quarter-bred wools – showing varying proportions of Merino blood in the finer types: 20¼ per cent of wool sold at auction is of this class. The remaining 79 ½ per cent represents what the trade calls crossbred wool – a confusing term to the layman, for most of the wool comes from Romney sheep. (Besides fleece wool there are all the “oddments”, bellies, pieces, necks, crutchings, locks, lambs' wool, etc.) After every wool sale newspaper reports show a list of qualities and prices. The following table should be helpful in understanding these reports:
Merino, 60/64s
Extra-fine half-bred and Corriedale, 58s and 58/60s
Fine half-bred and Corriedale, 56/58s
Medium half-bred and Corriedale, 56s
Extra-fine crossbred, 52s and 50/56s
Fine crossbred, 50s
Medium crossbred, 48/50s
Crossbred, 46/50s
Coarse crossbred, 46s and 46/48s
1835–1916: Wool and tallow, our only important pastoral products in the early days, were regularly shipped to Britain for sale and it was not until 1866 that the first wool auction sales were held locally. These quickly became popular, and soon British merchants were sending wool buyers to the New Zealand auctions. Other countries followed suit. Some of the big stations, however, continued to ship their wool to the London wool market, and a few still do this.
1916–20: Under a proclamation of 1916 the Crown became the sole buyer and seller of wool in New Zealand. During the remainder of the First World War, and up to 1920, Britain bought all New Zealand wool at a fixed price. This period is generally referred to as “the commandeer”.
1920–39: At the close of “the commandeer” Britain still held enormous stocks of unsold wool, including almost 800,000 bales from New Zealand. To prevent complete market chaos the British Australian Wool Realisation Association Ltd. (BAWRA) was set up and successfully disposed of the surplus between 1921 and 1924 without upsetting the market. Between the two world wars sheep numbers and wool production increased fairly steadily, though wool prices fell to ruinous levels of 3d. and 4d. a pound during the Depression.
1939–45: When war broke out in 1939 Britain once more offered to buy all New Zealand's wool for the duration of the war and one season thereafter. The average general price of the clip to be paid to the New Zealand grower was fixed at 12·25d. per pound and a team of appraisers was set up to value the many individual lines of wool. This was generally known as the “appraisement scheme”. A type and price schedule, known as the “Bareme”, was drawn up for all grades of wool: 977 individual types of greasy wool were listed with a “clean scoured” price for each. This was a tremendous task, as the general average price to the farmer for the 800,000 odd bales of greasy wool falling into these many different grades had to work out at 12·25d. per pound greasy. In 1942 the price was increased to 13·95d. per pound.
For many years New Zealand had eight selling centres for wool – Auckland, Napier, Wanganui, Wellington, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill. During the appraisement scheme Tokomaru Bay, Tolaga Bay, Gisborne, Nelson, Blenheim, and Oamaru were added as appraisal centres. The seven wool clips from 1939–40 to 1945–46 were bought under this scheme.
1946–51: At the end of the war there was again an accumulation of more than 10 million bales of stockpiled wool in Britain, including 1¾ million bales from New Zealand. Once again a special organisation was set up to deal with it – this time called the “joint organisation”, usually called the “J.O.”. It set up minimum reserve prices for each grade of wool. Its main work was to sell stockpiled wool without disrupting the market, though it would also if necessary buy in new-clip wool when auction prices were below the reserve price. The New Zealand branch of “J.O.” became known as the New Zealand Wool Disposal Commission, and only once, in 1946–47, did it have to buy in much wool (nearly 108,000 bales, which it later resold at a profit). It was supposed to be a stabilising influence, but it did not have enough of the right kinds of stock wool in the right selling places to prevent the very high prices of 1948 to 1951. It successfully liquidated stocks and, its work done, was terminated in 1951. Growers provided half the operating costs of the “J.O.” scheme through a “contributory charge”.
1952 to the Present: It had been hoped to follow with a Commonwealth scheme for a reserve-price plan for wool – but Australia withdrew. Eventually New Zealand went ahead alone with its present “floor prices” plan, which was launched with the Wool Commission Act, from January 1952. The New Zealand Wool Commission must mainly ensure minimum or “floor” prices for New Zealand wool sold at auction. The Commission has not so far been severely tested by a long period of low prices which would force it to buy in a lot of wool at floor prices. Indeed, the reverse has been the case – prices have generally been well above the floor level and most of the relatively small amount of wool bought in has been resold later at a profit.
The capital funds of the Commission came originally from the Government's half share of the “J.O.” profits – about £20 million, plus the balance, about £6 million, remaining in the woolgrowers' contributory charge account. This capital has since been increased by interest on investments and profits on resale of wool. The Commission is not only self-supporting but also contributes money to the activities of the New Zealand Wool Board.
A very brief outline of the stages wool goes through from farm to woollen mill is useful:
(1) The sheep are mustered by shepherds with dogs and brought to (2) the sheep yards where they are “drafted” (sorted out) and those needing it (3) “dagged”, i.e., the pieces of dried dung are clipped off the wool round the tail. (4) They are held overnight in the shearing or woolshed to keep them dry. They also sweat, which makes (5) the shearing easier next day. (6) The shorn sheep are counted out (shearers are paid by the hundred shorn) and (7) returned to their paddocks. (8) The shorn fleece is picked up and expertly thrown out flat on a slatted wool table, where it is (9) skirted to remove wool not matching the main portion of the fleece. The fleece is then (10) rolled into a compact bundle. On some, mainly large sheep stations, it is now (11) classed by a specialist wool classer who places fleeces of similar type together into (12) the bins, where they are held until required for (13) pressing into bales by a manually operated press. The bales are now (14) stencilled with the owner's brand, bale number, and description of wool and (15) dispatched to the wool broker, who (16) records, weighs, and (17) stacks them. Some or all may be sent to other parts of the store for (18) reclassing, (19) binning, or (20) interlotting. A proportionate number of bales from each line are (21) displayed with ends opened on the well-lighted show floor. Here they are (22) valued by wool buyers, who subsequently (23) bid for them at auction. The wool is (24) pushed back into the bales, which are resewn and (25) check weighed. (26) Shipping marks are stencilled on them and they are (27) “dumped”, i.e., compressed to a smaller volume and secured with steel wires ready for (28) shipping. Wool may also go to local mills for domestic use, or to wool-scouring plants for further processing before export.
The steps outlined are typical for most of the wool – but the farmer may choose to ship his wool, either greasy or after scouring, direct to London for sale, or sell privately to a buyer in New Zealand. Freezing works also export much slipe wool from skins – about 200,000 bales per annum.
by John Pinkerton Erskine Duncan, M.AGR.SC. (1911–65), Chief Advisory Officer (Wool), Department of Agriculture, Wellington.