Rex Bennett has been working with the Elders wool team for almost 17 years.
In his current role as the District Wool Manager to north east Victoria and south east Riverina, Rex’s focus is on boosting the profitability of his clients’ businesses.
Rex supports his clients all the way through the production cycle, assisting with classing and ram selection, and most importantly, marketing the final wool product to achieve the best outcomes at the point of sale.
A growing part of his day-to-day is assisting interested clients in becoming Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified.
The RWS is an international, voluntary standard that addresses animal welfare in sheep farms and chain of custody of wool from farms to final product.
Individual sites are certified by independent certification bodies using annual audits, and material is then tracked from the farm to the final product using transaction certificates.
According to Rex, RWS is the “pinnacle of certification programs worldwide”.
“RWS is giving growers a real premium on their clip, compared to equivalent wool with comparable specs which are not certified,” Rex said.
“Wool might be from un-mulesed sheep, but if they’re not in the program, they’re not getting the interest, or the auction room tension that the RWS certified clips are.”
To become certified, growers need to undertake a whole-property audit and assessment of their farm, ensuring best practice is being met.
There are three critical components for a farm wishing to become RWS certified – social welfare, land management and animal welfare. These are in place to ensure that wool growers are looking after the people they employ, protecting the environment and the land on which they operate, and ensuring the flock health and welfare is to industry standard.
This is where the Elders wool team can step in to assist.
Rex explained that his role is to assist interested clients through the process, and work with them to overcome any hurdles or barriers.
“We provide ongoing support along the way, with documentation, phone calls, and most importantly, marketing the clip,” Rex said.
“When it comes to selling the wool, we can expose it to the market to achieve the best possible competition for a maximised result on prices.”
RWS certified wool is also driving sustainability within the industry.
“When growers are RWS certified, the sustainability of the enterprise is prioritised; the enterprise is being ethically sustained and looked after,” Rex said.
“The premiums gained allow growers to have confidence in knowing they are producing a product that is well positioned to achieve full competition and demand from the market.
“It gives growers continued confidence to invest money back into their businesses on improving systems, infrastructure and animal welfare and management’’.
“That positions them really well for the future.”