The pair are in the second intake of a wool-classer scholarship launched last year by the New Zealand Merino Company (NZM).
The co-funded programme with the NZ Wool Testing Authority aims to fill the gap for classers who have their theory-based certificate, but need mentorship in the shed.
Miss Harmer, 22, was lined up with mentor Rose Barnett and Miss Caves, 23, with Vanessa McAlister during the two-and-a-half-month scholarship which included visits to an auction room and a scouring site in Melbourne.
Miss Harmer splits work as a wool classer with other farm work for her parents’ Castle Ridge Station in Ashburton Gorge and for Farmlands in Ashburton. The family’s 18.5 micron merino clip is supplied to Icebreaker under contract for next-to-skin and outdoor garments.
"I always had an interest in wool ever since I was little and used to sit on the wool table and watch, but was always interested in why you spilt it up into different purposes and where that’s going and why. So I started shadowing our old classer at home. And then once you untap the whole world of contracts and specifications within contracts I got really excited and saw there was a bit more to it than first thought."
When the classer retired she took on the role at Castle Ridge.
"The aim of the game is to make the most money for the grower and obviously that being my parents I’m trying to do anything I can for that."
She had learned a lot from the family classer and double that again from her scholarship mentor, she said.
After picking up fresh ideas and knowledge, she felt more confident knowing how to class a fleece for contract specifications and potentially putting the finer end into a bale for Italian suiting.
"I’ve done a wee bit before in the shed classing with a classer, but when you are working you don’t get that one-on-one time like we’ve had here. Everyone’s flat out and at the end of the run they might leave you 10 fleeces on the table and they’ve already set the lines, which is good, but I felt I wanted more in-depth time one-on-one during the run. So if I come across a fleece that doesn’t fit and match your lines then being there with a classer to see where they put it is so good."
Working as a wool handler, she gained her provisional wool-classer qualification and wants to progress into wool classing, eventually gaining her Australia qualifications to work around the year.
Raised on a lifestyle block in Loburn, she initially wanted to work in a different direction.
"I was actually going to be a hairdresser so the wool industry kind of found me. I went to do a hairdressing apprenticeship and did asparagus picking for a bit and my sister ended up going out wool handling for a local guy. They needed someone else because there wasn’t enough people and I thought ‘why not I’ve got nothing else to do’, never expecting it would turn into a week and then a week turned into a month and a month turned into six years now."
Initially working for a local contractor, more lately she has been freelancing in Cromwell, Clinton and Hamilton.
Miss Harmer said she really enjoyed the farming side of the job.
"I love meeting new growers and seeing their different styles of wool and their different breeding pathways. I love genetics as well which is a big part of wool because when you’re running a farm you want a certain wool type and some sheep are that wool type and some are totally different so I enjoy talking to different growers and working out what their different lines of genetics are and how that comes out in their wool and different strengths."
The ability of a merino to produce a lamb and valuable fleece had always impressed her.
Miss Harmer said the scholarship had given her more experience in woolsheds outside of the home station.
Working with her mentor had opened up her eyes to adjusting classing skills for different wool types and seeing a clear difference between lines.
"Rose has a large wealth of knowledge and they call her the walking laboratory. She can be within 0.2 for her micron by eye and on test results so she’s pretty incredible."
Wool classing ranged from one shed where the flock’s breeding line was based on an Icebreakers contract to another shed with six or eight different lines for contracts for three brands, she said.
Miss Caves said she had picked up many insights from her mentor for record-keeping, managing and interacting with a team and classing wool for style, a wide micron range in some sheds as well as for contracts and auctions.
The scholarship holders were based in the NZM headquarters in Christchurch for more than a week in July before classing with mentors from August to the end of last month.
Miss Caves said it was interesting to see wool selling for higher prices in Australia with 13 micron wool making $188 a kilogram.
NZM area manager Nic Blanchard said the second year of the scholarship followed a mentoring programme many years ago.
The latest intake was selected among other applicants for their potential and passion for classing, she said.
"The idea for this scholarship stemmed from the fact that we needed to put a succession plan in place as basically there’s not a lot of opportunity for young up-and-coming classers to get that hands-on experience in a working shed environment. We have two mentors we buddy up with two trainees."
Outside of the in-shed experience, the trainees learned about the wool supply chain, brands, contracts and how this tied together with classing and the importance of getting it right, she said.
"It takes 12 months to grow it and you get one shot to take it off so it’s really important because these guys as classers are pretty much the last set of hands to touch those fleeces before they head off to become the end garment."
Ms Blanchard said there was a generation gap among wool classers with few in their 30s or 40s and the programme would help to bridge the future gap when older classers retired.
She said the pair had gained confidence and would hopefully go on in future years to become mentors themselves.
"We are in an industry where there is a lot of opportunity to give back to those who come after us and my ultimate aim is ... that they are in the hot seat themselves for the industry. We are probably embarking on the next generation of training and the industry has had a lot of changes even in the last 10 years with contract models and classing wools in different ways.
"The basic fundamentals are still the same of micron, length, strength, soundness, but with contracts we have specific parameters we are required to meet especially around the soundness of the fibre."
Ms Blanchard said last year’s scholars had progressed since the programme with Sarah Graham classing in Argentina and Katrise Saunders classing three sheds now.
