Mulesing — the removal of skin folds from Merino sheep — prevents deadly flystrike but causes significant pain and is increasingly controversial globally.
Mulesing presents a genuine welfare dilemma: the procedure causes significant pain, but flystrike prevention is a real welfare need in susceptible breeds and environments. The ethical response is not to dismiss mulesing concerns because flystrike is also painful, but to actively develop and adopt alternatives. Pain relief during mulesing is the minimum welfare standard, combined with accelerated breeding for plain-bodied genetics and adoption of chemical and biological flystrike prevention methods that eliminate the need for mulesing.