Farmed Sheep Welfare: Mulesing and Wool Production

Sheep raised for wool face welfare challenges including mulesing, transport, and shearing practices. Understanding these issues helps consumers and advocates push for meaningful improvements.

Key Facts

Approximately 1.2 billion sheep are raised globally for wool and meat production
Mulesing — surgically removing strips of skin around the breech — is performed on Merino lambs in Australia to prevent flystrike
Mulesing is performed without anesthesia in most cases, causing acute and prolonged pain during healing
Flystrike (myiasis) — flies laying eggs in moist wool folds, larvae burrowing into flesh — is the welfare problem mulesing aims to prevent
Non-mulesed alternatives including selective breeding, topical treatments, and blow fly traps are increasingly viable
Over 80% of global wool brands have committed to phasing out mulesed wool sourcing from their supply chains

Welfare Considerations

Mulesing represents a welfare trade-off between two serious harms: acute surgical pain without analgesia versus the chronic and severe pain of flystrike. The industry argument that mulesing prevents worse suffering is scientifically legitimate but does not justify performing surgery without pain relief — post-operative analgesia with meloxicam significantly reduces recovery pain without reducing mulesing effectiveness. The better long-term solution is selective breeding for bare-breech genetics and wrinkle-free skin that are naturally resistant to flystrike. Many Australian wool producers have successfully phased out mulesing through these alternatives. Consumer and brand pressure has accelerated the transition — over 80% of international wool buyers now require non-mulesed certification.

What You Can Do

Look for non-mulesed wool certification on wool products and clothing
Support brands that have committed to sourcing only non-mulesed wool
Advocate for mandatory pain relief if mulesing is performed while breeding alternatives scale up
Support RSPCA Australia's campaigns for mulesing phaseout and better sheep welfare standards
Choose wool from New Zealand, where mulesing has never been widely practiced