Connections made with the overseas Merino community led to an international judging career for Ross, who was invited to judge in Argentina at the Commodore Rivada Show where judges were asked to place their rams from first to last, determining their selling order for the following day. A highlight, Ross said, was judging at the World Merino Conference in South Africa. He recalled Theuns Eksteen asking all the judges to assemble in the morning for a fitting of their judging uniforms. Tom Padbury, a fellow judge, said he couldn’t make it, so Theuns quietly said, “No worries, we will replace you Tom”. Tom was there on time! In 1989, the wool industry was buoyant. Excellent returns from wool growing led to record-breaking stud sire sales at Melbourne and Dubbo that year. Ross would again make headlines, this time as a buyer. George Clark of Tibeereenah stud, Tara, Queensland, had been attending the Melbourne event with a small team of sires in a bid to get greater exposure for his stud. He offered a young sire by RV3088, which was from the Purple Manderlay family and whose sister won Junior Champion Ewe at Melbourne that year. By sale day, the ram had generated enormous interest, displaying exceptional skin quality and highly crimped fibre. Ross sensed the interest and made a claim to purchase it. As the day progressed, other interested parties were approached to see if they would be interested in purchasing semen if the sale went through. This was met most favourably, except for one party who had similar intentions. When the bidding kicked off for RV3088’s son, it started at a modest level before quickly rising to $80,000, then escalating further as the two parties battled it out, ultimately reaching a final figure of $120,000 to Willandra. Ross named this ram “Lord George”. As with all periods of boom in the agriculture industry, there comes a correction – and correct it did. The wool industry in the 1970s was in dire straits with low returns for fibre. In 1963 to 1964, national wool sales were close to $1000 million but they had shrunk to $300 million in 1970. Along with record production of wheat and historical low prices, national wool growers were looking for changes. On two separate occasions, in 1951 and again in 1965, referendums were held on the national acquisition of the wool clip, both narrowly defeated in favour of a free market. On 27 October 1970, Doug Anthony, Minister for Primary Industries at the time, introduced legislation creating the Australian Wool Commission. Anthony was quoted as saying, “The introduction of a flexible reserve price scheme can help to reduce the instability of the auction prices”. Two days later, The Land newspaper was reporting on falling wool prices and quoting, “opinion amongst wool growers are in favour of the commission and the principle of a reserve price”. Over the years, the reserve price era stockpiles had periods of growth, with surplus able to be sold into the world textile trade. As the years progressed, the reserve price (at the urging of different industry groups) rose. By 1988, the floor price had been set at 870c/kg. While the initial concept was to create a floor price in the market, the ramping up of the reserve price distorted the market and allowed speculators to become wool growers. The flow-on effect of this legislation was a substantial increase in the national flock, which reached 180 million sheep, producing a sizeable wool clip that the textile industry was not able to absorb. The stockpile of fibre was growing and the costs to growers in purchasing and storing was rising. In response to skyrocketing industry borrowings, which were now in the billions of dollars, Primary Industry Minister John Kerin reduced the wool floor price from 870c/kg to 700c/kg, declaring it “immutable”. This move harmed textile buyers with high-priced inventory, prompting many to eventually exit the wool industry alongside the collapse of the Russian trade. The stockpile continued to grow and had surpassed the 3.5 million bales mark Ross with “Lord George”– Son of RV3088, purchased from George Clark (pictured), Tibbereenah stud, Queensland, at the 1989 Melbourne Ram Sale for $120,000. – 43 –
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