Composition of the national sheep flock and specification of equilibrium prices and quantities for the Australian sheep and wool industries, 2002-03 to 2004-05

The data used, and the methods and assumptions fundamental to the development of an equilibrium displacement model (EDM) of the Australian sheep and wool industries specified in Mounter 'et al.' (2007), are contained in this report. The national sheep flock is disaggregated into Merino and non-Merino sheep in the three agricultural zones of Australia using 2002-03 Australian agricultural and grazing industries survey data. Opening and closing sheep numbers, death rates and weaning percentages were used to derive the supply and use of sheep in each zone. Annual shorn wool production was split into four fibre-diameter categories in each zone corresponding to ABS wool export categories. Wool production percentages and relative greasy fleece weights were used to estimate the quantities of wool attributable to ewes, wethers and hoggets in each zone. Estimates were also constructed of lamb, mutton and live sheep export volumes produced from the different sheep enterprises in each agricultural zone. As the flock composition data are based on 2002-03 figures, aggregate production and export data for 2002-03 were used to validate the methods involved in deriving the disaggregated production estimates. The data in the EDM of the Australian sheep and wool industries by Mounter 'et al.' (2007) are average annual values for the years 2002-03 to 2004-05. The methods and assumptions used in specifying the data are the same as those used in obtaining the disaggregated 2002-03 estimates. In some cases, where data did not exist, estimated values were calculated.