Four-year-old Joe Chalker is slumped over an old chair next to a bale of wool. He’s gently sucking his thumb, oblivious to flurry of activity around him. It’s shearing time at Lach River Merino Stud near Cowra in central New South Wales, and that means all hands on deck, even little ones that still need an afternoon nap.
“We moved shearing to January to reduce fleece contamination,” Brad Chalker explains. “We used to shear in April, but with the good seasons, there were a lot of burrs in the wool.” So it’s hot - really hot - but no one dares complain; they just shed layers of clothing and keep working. They’re all there because it rained.
After more than four decades in the wool industry, the Chalker family started its stud in 2012. But in 2018, they were thrown into one of the worst droughts on record. “It was desperate,” Brad admits. “By the end, we were buying 40-50 tonnes of grain a week, spending up to $20 thousand. A lot of people in the district sold their stock.”
Photography: @misspip_rural
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