Mulesing is a painful procedure used to prevent fly strike in Merino sheep, but alternatives are now available and increasingly adopted by welfare-conscious producers.
Mulesing causes undeniable acute pain - research documenting cortisol spikes, behavioral indicators of pain and wound sensitivity confirms this clearly. Performed without analgesia on lambs as young as 2-12 weeks, it represents a standard agricultural practice that would be considered cruelty if applied to companion animals. The justification - preventing the worse suffering of fly strike - is real but incomplete: alternatives exist that can achieve comparable fly strike protection without the procedural pain. Selective breeding for plain-bodied, clean-breech Merino sheep eliminates the underlying susceptibility. The breed's wrinkled skin, which both collects moisture and makes cleaning difficult, was itself a product of selective breeding for maximum wool production - the welfare problem was created by breeding choices and can be addressed by them.