RATHER than a lift in prices as spring lambs hit the market, farmers could be disappointed at the saleyards if processing capacity is not bought to at least meet last year's capabilities.
And capacity is now at a low ebb.
At Junee abattoir Heath Newton wants to expand his workforce by 10 per cent immediately, from 300 to 330.
But at the moment government restrictions are stopping him.
Mr Newton wants to fly 30 workers from Pacific nations to Australia to fill the roles that could relieve pressure on his business.
Australians have little interest in the jobs and COVID-19 restrictions have put paid to flying foreign workers to Australia.
Mr Newton said he was quite prepared to charter a plane to bring the workers to Australia, pay their mandatory isolation bills on arrival in NSW and train them.
"They will be well paid and trained, these are skilled jobs," he said.
The work is solid, now five days a week for 300 people and some overtime to process 4200 animals a day.
Production is split about 50-50 between domestic and export.
Throughput is now "where we want to be" said Mr Newton, but another 30 people would add an extra degree of flexibility when it came to rostering and managing annual leave.
"We want a permanent and satisfied workforce," he said.
FIP Group chief executive Brad Seagrott says COVID-19 restrictions have wreaked havoc at the labour force provider, which wants to provide Mr Newton with workers.
"Local applications are down about 80 per cent compared with normal and we have 600 roles now that can be filled using the Pacific Labour Scheme.
"And the number is growing daily."
The PLS is visa 403, specifically for rural and regional Australia, which must be employer sponsored and can span as long as three years, but a minimum of 12 months, for people from signatory countries between 21 and 45 years old.
Signatory countries are Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Mr Seagrott said his company had been stopped in mid-stream by the restrictions.
"The last plane was on a Friday and we had another set to fly Monday," he said.
Victorian processors want more staff now, despite being ordered by state Premier Daniel Andrews to operate at two thirds of capacity (see below).
In the next two months the flush of spring lambs will hit the markets.
They are in demand worldwide.
And it's the export market that particularly concerns Floyd Legge at Ridgehaven Poll Dorsets, Cudal.
Mr Legge, also NSW Farmers sheepmeat committee chairman, worries about consistency of supply to Australia's foreign markets.
"If there's not consistent supply there are some overseas markets that might pull lamb off the shelves," he said.
"That's potentially a big setback because you don't want to be rebuilding relationships that have been forged over many years.
"Access to international markets is not an easy thing to get."
Domestically, "what prime processors pay is directly related to their throughput," he said.
Mr Legge said processors being able to access workers was an "exceptionally important issue" as sucker lambs will soon be in saleyards and prevail until Christmas.
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