Sheep farming presents distinctive welfare challenges including flystrike — a potentially fatal condition caused by flies laying eggs in wool-covered skin — and mulesing, the controversial practice used to prevent it. Understanding these issues reveals what good sheep welfare looks like.
Sheep welfare in the UK faces challenges at both the farm level — flystrike, lameness, internal parasites — and at the end-of-life stage. Lameness in sheep, primarily caused by footrot and foot scald, affects around 10% of the national flock and causes significant chronic pain. Pre-slaughter handling quality varies widely. Flystrike causes acute, severe suffering and deaths that are largely preventable through appropriate preventive management. Mulesing in Australia represents a trade-off between acute surgical pain and chronic risk — a trade-off that selective breeding increasingly makes unnecessary. The welfare case for investing in Merino sheep genetics that don not require mulesing is compelling, and some major brands have committed to sourcing mulesing-free wool.