ANIMAL welfare bodies have stepped up government lobbying to phase out the mulesing of sheep in Australia by 2030, releasing a report highlighting the Australian wool industry’s ‘broken promise’ to ban the practice by 2010.
In the report, ‘The Broken Promise: The Australian wool industry’s failure to end live lamb cutting, and why government must step in’, FOUR PAWS, Humane Society International Australia and the Australian Animal Alliance claim lack of leadership, vested interests and wasted tax-payer funds have led to Australia being the only country still practicing mulesing.
The groups have also now labelled mulesing as ‘live lamb cutting’ because it involves the cutting of skin folds from the breech area of lambs, typically using shears.
FOUR PAWS head of animal welfare in fashion Jessica Medcalf said due to the Australian wool industry breaking its promise to end mulesing in 2010, an estimated 140 million lambs have been subjected to ‘live lamb cutting’ in Australia, causing immense and avoidable suffering.
“Our report provides strong evidence as to how the wool industry’s peak bodies have clearly and consistently demonstrated their inability to lead a phase-out of this brutal practice.
“It’s vital government steps in to end live lamb cutting once and for all.”
Ms Medcalf said Australia’s Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins and her team have been approached to encourage the government’s support in progressing the issue of live lamb cutting.
“At the federal level, they could lead a long-overdue review of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Sheep which were endorsed back in 2016.
“They could certainly incorporate a phase-out of live lamb cutting by 2030. With millions of lambs still enduring live cutting each year, we would also like to see mandatory ‘best practice’ multi-modal pain relief, effective immediately,” she said.
“Additionally, they could facilitate discussions among the states to encourage a collective, nationwide phase-out and support initiatives for a smooth transition across the country.
Ms Medcalf said the animal welfare groups have already begun consulting with state governments on the need for legislative action to establish a phase-out timeline.
“These efforts will now intensify, as years of engagement with peak wool bodies have left us with no confidence in their ability to lead the transition independently.”
The groups calculate that 75-80 percent of Australian sheep kept for wool production continue to suffer mulesing or ‘live lamb cutting’, and the transition rate over the past 20 years has been under 2pc most years, meaning the practice won’t end for at least 30 years.
The report makes a series of recommendations relating to governments, the wool industry and brands and retailers sourcing Australian wool.
These include that the Federal Government lead a review of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Sheep with state and territory governments to introduce a phase-out of live lamb cutting by 2030.
The groups want each state government and territory to legislate a phase-out period to a 2030 ban and mandate multi-modal best practice pain management for mulesing until this is achieved, while working with the Federal Government on the standards and guidelines review and regulating the revised AAWSG for Sheep.
The report recommends the Australian wool industry develops a statement “endorsing the use of flystrike-resistant sheep types as the ultimate goal of the industry to mitigate flystrike, underscored by open and transparent information about market demand and economic opportunities of transitioning to flystrike-resistant sheep types.” It also recommends that the industry engage growers with an accessible on-farm extension program, that suit their individual needs, to support transition, collaborating with governments to provide producers with one-on-one livestock consultant guidance if needed.
The groups also recommend the industry stops promoting wool from sheep subjected to live lamb cutting as a high welfare product, i.e. under the Australian Wool Exchange’s ResponsiWOOL scheme.
Live animal cutting represents a trading reputation risk
After reviewing recent comments by senior Federal Government trade executive Jo Grainger, Ms Medcalf said beyond ethical concerns, live lamb cutting poses significant risks to Australia’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.
“With increasing consumer demand for higher animal welfare standards, Australia faces the potential loss of key export partners, damage to its global brand, and the possibility of stricter trade regulations.
“An EU ban on live lamb-cut wool is certainly possible and could extend to include sheep meat products also,” she said.
“At the very least, it’s expected that labelling laws will require the disclosure of live lamb cutting in the coming years.
“Such measures will align with the EU’s goals to create further transparency and enable a more level playing field.”
Ms Medcalf said it is unclear that the use of pain relief alone will have a meaningful impact on decisions made overseas regarding live lamb cutting.
“Current pain relief methods are completely insufficient, and organisations like FOUR PAWS are prepared to highlight these inadequacies for years to come, especially when the practice itself could be avoided.
“It will always be fundamentally unethical to continue breeding sheep that are highly prone to flystrike in a country like Australia,” she said.
“Despite efforts by some to use pain relief as a defence, the facts are abundantly clear on both the solution to flystrike and that the pain relief provided does not fully address the suffering caused,” she said.
“With Australia being the world’s largest exporter of both wool and sheep meat, it’s out of step to dismiss the connection between mulesing and meat production, especially since Meat and Livestock Australia themselves have openly acknowledged the risks this practice poses to the industry’s social licence.
“Although live lamb cutting originated with the intent to increase wool yield, the reality is that most wool producers also sell meat and recognising and addressing the negative implications of live lamb cutting for both wool and meat sectors is crucial.”
Ms Medcalf said the persistence of live lamb cutting in Australia reflects a lack of prioritisation of animal welfare, which is a crucial component of sustainability.
“A neutral stance on this issue from government is not sustainable in itself, especially as consumer sentiment increasingly favours higher animal welfare standards.”
Ms Medcalf said FOUR PAWS remains dedicated to ending live lamb cutting, alongside other organisations as well as brands, and nearly 90 brands, including Hugo Boss, Adidas, Zara, and most recently Mango, have signed the Four PAWS brand letter of intent calling for Australia to step up on this issue.
“The BG Economics report ‘Towards a Non-Mulesed future’ also shows that most growers can transition away from mulesing within five years and often find it financially beneficial to do so.
“This suggests that adopting more ethical practices aligns with global sustainability trends and would meet evolving consumer expectations, rather than ignore them,” she said.
“It’s simply overdue for state governments around the country to step in, provide the direction and leadership that’s been lacking, and end this bloody business.”
While ever wrinkly Merinos are farmed for wool mulesing is unfortunately a necessary evil, with the suffering caused by flystrike an even worse painful suffering. Most graziers hate and dread mulesing day and would give anything to have mulesing become a thing of the past.
The only real alternative is to reconsider the type of livestock we run. European originated livestock from a cooler wetter environment don’t really belong in our warm dry climate. But I’ve got a better chance of swimming to the moon and back than that happening.
I was a professional shearer for twenty years. Merino sheep are very susceptible to flystrike and the best thing that ever happened was the introduction of mulesing. They are now treated with a numbing solution. I can’t remember what it’s called, but all the lambs are treated with it before they are mulesed. I believe mulesing is very much needed to avoid breech strike. When you see perfectly healthy sheep and they get fly-struck, especially the stinking green fly whose maggots eat living flesh, and will after a couple of days eat holes in the sheep’s guts, and if untreated, the sheep dies of blood poisoning … an agonising death. What is worse, that’s what I ask you?
The inhumane practice of mulesing of sheep needs to end. This is long overdue as many sheep have unnecessary pain and suffering until their deaths. Times have moved on and so mulesing should cease.
Go out and have a very good look at a fly-blown sheep. If you’re lucky you might get to see one with a crow pecking it’s eyes while alive, but unable to get up due to being fly-blown. You do not have a clue.
In a world where people are constantly reminded of global warming I cannot understand why a natural fibre is not extremely competitive in the market due to to its low requirements of fossil fuel for production and processing. Also it’s ability to be produced in extreme dry conditions and it’s wonderful natural ability to breathe. It’s amazing elasticity properties and comfy ability. Verses cotton which uses copious amounts of water fossil fuels and is the main contributor to the devastation of the Murray Darling ecosystem in Australia. It restricts the flow of these rivers to a trickle hence wiping out the flora and fauna of a huge area of this country. Also all synthetic aparell is solely produced and manufactured from fossil fuel… The woolgrowers of Australia have gone to considerable lengths and expense to conform with the requests from animal welfare groups and were told that if they breed Merinos that are suitable for non mulesing and stop mulesing they will be rewarded with higher competitive prices for their wool. This is an absolute lie and statistics have proven it so they now have a very unproductive flock producing at least 25-30 percent less wool than before and still have the increased costs of production due to more labour and chemicals required to eradicate blowfly issues. Pain relief is used by every wool producer and is extremely effective together with the unbelievable ability of the merino sheep to naturally heal ( in a matter of days), and mother up. Sheep breeders are extremely passionate about the welfare of their animals and understand the importance of the welfare of their livestock as we live with them and live off them and provide a way cleaner and environmentally sustainable natural product that clothes and feeds the ever expanding population of this world. In a competitive fibre and meat market where we cannot compete productively and economically and sustainably and ethnically we will definitely stop breeding sheep altogether and just run cattle, goats or non fibre producing sheep or more grain production. So there is a massive threat to the survival of an iconic industry that is already more sustainable than it’s competitors in this current climatic state.
There for I strongly urge people and politicians to listen very carefully and make sound sustainable decisions involving the 100 percent use of common sense and science to ensure the industry grows and survives sustainably ethically environmentally and economically into the future!!!!! In very recent times we have seen the Australian government take the easy way out and ban live sheep exports resulting in economic disaster in rural industries and communities and eventually to their own purce . When they could have enforced regulations on carriers to load and care for stock ethically ie. pre feed sheep in a feed lot environment to make sure they have adapted properly to the feed conditions . Ensure that overcrowding is not an issue. Ensure that atmospheric conditions are maintained either by air conditioning or only operating at correct time of the year.. also making end users conform to ethical handling of stock right up to the plate. It’s not rocket science and if people and industry can’t comply then they have no choice but to ban the industry. The way in which they have acted is purely political to sustain their position as government. Really this action shows off their ability not to govern ethically environmentally and economically and displays a very poor ability to manage and govern a situation . I endorse and expect decisions to be based upon ethical sustainable moral and economic principles and common sense particularly in this highly educated and scientific age that we live in.
Please read carefully and consider everybody’s issues with this industry so that it survives into the next century. There needs to be a common ground between all to survive and I do not advocate negative opposition only positive outcomes.
Could you please publish this as a response and a solution for the industry’s and environments survival and sake? Yours sincerely Denis Byrne.
The mulesing issue has been around for a long time. It is not a case of just stopping mulesing, but to breed sheep that don’t require mulesing. That involves breeding a plain-bodied sheep with no wrinkles and developing a soft, thin and supple skin.
In doing so it produces a sheep that doesn’t need mulesing, is resistant to body strike with no need to jet for fly protection and is fertile and a good shearing type.
This efficient Merino was developed 30 odd years back and those have adopted this type have gone ahead and remained in Merino sheep until retirement.
It is time that AWI took some notice and looked at what can be done rather than living in the past. Imagine where the Merino industry would be at had some vision been shown by the collector of wool levies. What we have been seeing is an exodus to shedding sheep.
Doug, yet again you describe the situation perfectly. It is a tragedy that our industry has not heeded the opportunity to turn, whatever sort of Merino they liked 20 years ago, into a non-mulesed Merino today. A Merino producing more wool of finer micron with superior processing characteristics. And easier to shear. That is a fact and those who argue otherwise are doing the industry a great disservice never-mind the damage they are inflicting on their own bank accounts.
AWI take note: Your leadership failure is boomeranging back onto your bank account also.
Sheep mulesing is cruel, unethical and must stop.
It’s just all about profit. I see newborn lambs suffer under the cold windy weather here in Tasmania. They have big sheds to put their machinery, while the lambs and ewes need protection when giving birth. Mulesing must end asap; unless there is a stronger pain relief to overcome this. After all, we have anaesthetics under major surgery. These are sentient beings.
Another radical group intent on destroying our livelihood. Mulesing began in the 1960’s, not as a way to grow more wool, but to drastically reduce suffering and death of sheep. Techniques have improved vastly since those times, including using two types of pain relief. Without mulesing, many sheep will die slow and agonising deaths. It could, of course, be replaced with the use of already available chemicals, but most producers are very cautious with over-using chemical solutions, with good reason. It is vital for mulesing to be continued for the sake of the sheep.
I certainly wouldn’t like skin cut off my butt with no pain relief, and if we are the only country still doing it, it certainly raises the question of why when there are obviously ways around it being applied everywhere else. Animal welfare must be a priority. If you choose to have animals you also choose the responsibility of taking care of them properly.
Your personal “ethical” concerns have no legitimate place in any arguments for and against. It’s pathetic that your emotional immaturity and desperate need to have a sense of purpose has pushed these crusades. If you were honest and wrote down all the things you want banned based on your “own” conscience, ethics or morality you would probably ban every industry possible and eventually starve to depth. Idealistic nonsense is a sign of an immature, disconnected way of thinking. Maybe examine how you feel you have the right to be involved in others’ lives and jobs to assuage any “guilt” you have because you are not the arbitrator of anything.
They haven’t evidently seen a fly-blown sheep.
I agree.. short-term pain for long-term gain and better life in the long run but they don’t seem to get that.
Funny how we use pain relief – it’s no different to an operation.
These individuals need to not only see fly-blown sheep, but have their faces rubbed into it.
This is another wake-up call that requires a positive response if overseas markets for quality Merino wool are not to be lost or prejudiced.
Once again a target date is proposed – 2030. To miss again could be fatal.