8 October 2024

TAFE NSW Hay has helped a former florist raised in suburban Bathurst make an unlikely career pivot to wool classing, as the spring shearing season hits full swing.

Rebecca Owen, 35, was trained at TAFE NSW as a florist and an aged care assistant-in-nursing in her 20s, before falling in love with the wool industry and moving to Hay.

After taking a job as a roustabout in local sheds five years ago, Ms Owen this year turned to TAFE NSW Hay to take her career to the next level, enrolling in a Certificate IV in Wool Classing.

It comes as demand surges for wool classers nationally as the shearing and lamb marking season ramps up.

Hay is at the centre of what is regarded as one of the best merino wool-growing regions in Australia, with 26 studs found on the Riverine Plains.

“From the moment I stepped inside a wool shed, I’ve loved the idea of a career in wool,” Ms Owen said. “The energy, drive, ambition and physical side of the job is just addictive.”

Ms Owen is currently working as wool handler for Willshear in Hay and hopes to use the practical skills and experience learned in her wool classing course to progress her career.

“I want to eventually work as a wool classer but the course is giving me better skills and a deeper understanding of my current role as a wool handler,” she said. “My TAFE NSW wool classing teacher Kayla is a wonderful teacher and I truly believe if you learn from the best, you become the best.”

Ms Owen is one of a growing number of “townies” – people from a non-rural background – turning to TAFE NSW to help them retrain to a career in ag.

NSW Farmers workplace relations chair Chris Stillard said new data showing more students from non-farming backgrounds were studying agriculture at TAFE NSW was a positive for the industry.

“TAFE NSW will play an important role in helping the industry have a skilled pipeline of workers into the future,” he said.

Certificate IV in Wool Classing graduates can register with the Australian Wool Exchange to receive an Australian classer registration, allowing them to work as registered classes in shearing sheds across Australia.

TAFE NSW Hay wool classing teacher Kayla Garner, who was crowned Australian National Wool Handling Champion in 2013 and has nearly 20 years’ experience as a wool classer, said TAFE NSW graduates in the industry were in high demand.

“The overwhelming majority of our wool graduates walk straight into jobs and the industry offers a great lifestyle and opportunity to earn good money,” Ms Garner said.

Ms Garner said graduates typically found work as wool classers or wool brokers, assessing the quality of fleece or estimating its value and on-selling it.

Media contact: Dan Johns, TAFE NSW Communications Specialist, 0477 722 428