Mulesing in Merino lambs has dropped over past three years according to AWI survey

The AWI Merino Husbandry Practices Survey contacted 1203 Merino producers from the MLA member database to ask about management practices.

A wide demographic of woolgrowers were targeted with results tracking changes in husbandry practices such as mulesing, tail docking and castration.

The percentage of respondents that mulesed their ewe lambs fell from 63pc in 2019 to 52pc in 2021.

Mulesing in male lambs showed a similar decline from 54pc to 44pc.

The trend was especially apparent among woolgrowers with flock sizes of between 100 to 499 sheep.

Of the producers who do not mules, 84pc had stopped in the past 16 years, while 50pc of those ceased in the past six years.

Producers reported the main reason they had stopped mulesing was because they had bred sheep with less body wrinkle (39pc).

Breeding naturally flystrike resistant sheep can take from five years to several decades and the survey data suggested woolgrowers were seeing their breeding programs succeed, giving them the confidence to cease mulesing.

Around 20pc of woolgrowers who mules said they were likely or very likely to stop in the next five years.

The larger the flock size, the less likely producers would cease mulesing practices in the upcoming five years (flock size 500-1999: 57pc and flock size 2000+: 65pc).

If mulesing was no longer an option, 47pc of respondents (who could give more than one option) said they would rely more on flystrike chemicals for prevention or treatment, 45pc would increase crutching frequency, 41pc would breed sheep more resistant to flystrike, and about 23pc would move to another enterprise.

The number or percentage of woolgrowers who mules, as estimated by woolgrower surveys, contrasts with the proportion of mulesed and non-mulesed bales of wool, as declared by vendors through the National Wool Declaration.

While both measures are indicating an increasing trend in the production of non-mulesed wool, according to AWI, the figures cannot be directly compared.

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The NWD reports the percentage of bales of wool sold through the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX), whilst woolgrower surveys report on woolgrower practices.

As larger woolgrowers are significantly more likely to mules their lambs, they have a disproportionate effect on the number of mulesed wool bales sold through AWEX which is reflected in the higher proportion of mulesed wool bales offered for sale.

Once a woolgrower stops mulesing, it can take up to seven or eight years for all mulesed animals to leave the property, so there will always be a lag, especially for woolgrowers who run their ewes in mixed aged mobs.

The NWD data is for wool sold at auction and does not include direct sales.

Woolgrowers with small numbers of bales mules less, but they also use the NWD less than larger woolgrowers.

Almost all woolgrowers now use pain management.

TriSolfen is the pain management choice for majority of growers, 92pc of respondents using pain management at mulesing and TriSolfen used in 96pc of those cases.

TriSolfen, a local anaesthetic, was registered for mulesing in 2007 and tail docking and castration in 2016.

A small percentage used longer-term analgesic injections (4pc) or oral gel (5pc).

Only 8pc of respondents used a combination of a longer acting analgesic with TriSolfen, which is considered best practice for pain management at mulesing.

Almost all respondents castrated their male lambs (98pc); rings were almost universally used at 97pc, with 2pc using a cold knife and 1pc using shears/knife.

Trends in castration practices have not changed since the 2017 AWI Merino Husbandry Practices Survey.

AWI advised the best practice for pain management at mulesing, tail docking and castration is to make sure your lambs have both a long acting analgesic and the shorter acting local anaesthetic.

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) Metacam and Buccalgesic were registered for mulesing, tail docking and castration in 2016 (Metacam) and 2017 (Buccalgesic).

Numnuts, a handheld device that delivers a local anaesthetic for ring castration and tail docking by rings (NumOcaine) was launched in 2019.