Wool from the Finnegan family’s “Kia Ora” merino sheep property at Winslow was the first purchased in Australia under the Schneider Group’s new Authentico integrity scheme.
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The Schneider Group is a high end textile trading and processing group and its Authentico scheme for wool promotes best practice and a fully traceable supply chain from Authentico certified wool growers through to its customers.
To become a Authentico licensed farm, if wool growers are mulesing sheep, they need to apply pain relief prior to removing the wool-bearing skin from around the sheep’s buttocks.
Sue Finnigan from Kia Ora said it complied with Authentico requirements because it did not mules its sheep.
Mrs Finnigan said the farm had bred merinos for bare breech (buttocks) for many years.
The bare breech merinos did not have flystrike problems but did require extra crutching and a bit more management, she said.
The Schneider Group paid $23.90 a kilogram for one bale of 15.8 micron Authentico certified wool from the Finnigans and the same price again for two bales of their 16 micron Authentico certified wool.
G. Schneider Australia managing director Tim Marwedel said the group could not promise a premium at the moment for Authentico wool, but hoped that commercial interest drove the demand for Authentico as the scheme built.
At the moment we can’t promise a premium but as the scheme builds, we hope that commercial interest drives the demand for Authentico.
- Tim Marwedel
Schneider Group chief executive Giovanni Schneider said it had introduced the Authentico scheme because “more and more of today’s wool consumers want to connect back to the source of the wool products they buy.
“These consumers wish to learn and understand more about on farm practices as well as processing practices along the wool supply chain.
“In response, spinners, weavers and retailers are looking for ways to tell the story of their wool products and deliver details on provenance as well as environmental, social and animal welfare stewardship," Mr Schneider said.
Apart from assurances regarding mulesing, the Authentico scheme also requires growers to meet a number of other requirements.