Unnecessary and anticompetitive restrictions

Letter sent to The Examiner

9th August 2008

The recommendation by the Department of Primary Industries to remove the ridiculous and anticompetitive restrictions on the use of the so called ‘exotic’ sheep breeds is a welcome relief to Dorper sheep breeders in Tasmania. Using the wool industries own research the report discredits the emotive, unscientific and exaggerated claims on contamination made by TFGA wool council and draws its logical conclusion based on facts not barbeque talk.

Thanks to Minister Llewellyn’s integrity this report can be read, along with all submissions to the review, on the DPIW website (Exotic Sheep Code of Practice).

The contamination risk is proven to be low in relation to the impact of urine stain and pigmentation naturally occurring in the merino breed, and in relation to the use of existing terminal sire breeds, and can be addressed by responsible and commonsense sheep management practices.

No other State has such a patently discriminatory restriction on trade. Other than the four prescribed breeds, none of the many sheep breeds in Tasmania capable of contaminating merino wool have any restrictions placed on their use. Thanks to the hypocrisy of the TFGA wool council the shedding breeds the Wiltshire Horn and its hornless derivative the Wiltipoll, both recognised as shedding dark and medullated fibres, are freely available in Tasmania. Since the introduction of the Regulations, Wiltshire breeders have been able to use the ‘exotic’ sheep regulations as a marketing tool for their breed to great advantage. Unfortunately as well as shedding dark and medullated fibres, the Wiltshire has neither the rapid growth rates nor carcase acceptability demanded by the trade, whilst the Dorper meets market requirements with ease.

The Regulations are unworkable and unenforceable short of DNA testing every sheep entering Tasmania as it is impossible to determine by appearance the genetic makeup of a sheep. There are many pure and composite bred sheep brought in to the State weekly that could presumably carry ‘exotic’ sheep genetics. Without DNA testing (and a huge bucket of money) how can the Regulations be policed?

With production costs skyrocketing the opportunity to reduce operating expenses by using a specialist prime lamb breed such as the Dorper, that does not require shearing, crutching or mulesing, has been inhibited by pointless bureaucratic red tape.

Producing quality fine wool is solely the responsibility of wool industry participants. By using validated, scientifically based quality assurance schemes such as the wool industry’s recently developed Dark and Medullated Fibre Risk scheme, Tasmanian fine wool producers can differentiate Tasmanian wool by virtue of their commitment, ability and honesty as opposed to supporting a carefully crafted spin campaign which has resulted in absolutely no benefit to improvement in the quality of Tasmanian fine wool.

Jim Lyall
Brocburn Dorper & White Dorper Stud

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