In response to welfare concerns over the flystrike prevention procedure of mulesing, the Australian wool industry has determined to phase out the procedure in favour of welfare improved practices, and has a fast-tracked R&D and breeding program to achieve this.

Due to the high risk, serious nature of flystrike, which mulesing prevents - this phase-out process must be undertaken responsibly, according to best welfare science, so that growers have alternatives in the meantime.

Flystrike Prevention Research, Development and Breeding Program

This program has both long term and short term aims. The long term aim is to remove the need for mulesing to prevent flystrike in Australian sheep through:

1.     Advances in non-invasive management practices such as crutching, jetting, fly trapping and nutrition.

2.     Genetic research and enhanced breeding for breech strike resistance.

The more immediate or short term aim is to provide methods to replace the traditional practice of mulesing (performed without anaesthetic) with welfare-improved alternatives including:

3.     Welfare-improved surgery with pain relief

4.     Non surgical methods of removing breech wrinkle, such as flystrike prevention clips and intradermal chemical injections.

This is in recognition that breeding programs can take time, and many sheep may remain vulnerable in the interim. This is an evidence-based welfare science approach.

Strong progress is being made. A proportion of farmers have been able to stop using the procedure. In other cases, where the risk to sheep remains too high, farmers are replacing the traditional procedure with welfare-improved practices (such as welfare-improved surgery with pain relief or breech strike prevention clips) while longer term breeding programs are underway.

In the meantime, a declaration system is available to identify wool from non-mulesed sheep and from farms where farmers have ceased mulesing or adopted welfare-improved practices.

The National Wool Declaration, or NWD, as it is known, was introduced by Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) with the aim of giving buyers and processors transparency about Australian woolgrowers’ flystrike prevention strategies.

The NWD allows woolgrowers to declare the flystrike control status of their clip as follows:

• Non-mulesed (NM) – The specific lots of wool declared are from sheep that have not been mulesed.
• Ceased-mulesed (CM) – This indicates farms where mulesing is no longer practiced. While mulesing is no longer done, there may be some remaining sheep that were mulesed as lambs.
• Pain relief (PR) – Mulesing is done with the use of registered pain relief medication.
• Mulesed (M) – Sheep are still mulesed.
• Not declared (ND) – The farmer has not declared the mulesing status of their wool.

The NWD also provides buyers with the information needed to source Australian wool that is from non-mulesed sheep (NM), from a grower who has ceased mulesing (CM), or from a grower using pain relief (PR).

Buyers looking to source welfare-friendly wool are encouraged to select from the NWD’s non-mulesed, ceased-mulesed and pain relief categories. This not only sends important market signals to farmers to declare their wool through the NWD, but also provides the Australian wool industry with information about the types of wool most in market demand.

Australian Wool Innovation adopts new animal health and welfare flystrike prevention policy

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