VFF livestock group recommends mandatory mulesing analgesia use

THE VFF has joined its contemporaries in throwing its support behind the use of analgesics at mulesing time.

THE Victorian Farmers Federation is pushing to make pain relief at mulesing mandatory.

However, there’s not yet full support for the way this could be enforced.

VFF Livestock Group president Leonard Vallance said the group would now advocate for mandatory use of analgesics for mulesing.

“The anecdotal evidence to the VFF from practising farmers is that the stock do better with the pain relief, and recovery times are reduced,” Mr Vallance said.

He said analgesic use was deemed necessary, as alternatives to mulesing had not yet “been refined to the extent the animals can be handled efficiently in the yards”.

“The industry has been wanting to see how the analgesics perform over a period of time, and it’s pretty much proven to be of benefit. The delivery mechanisms are reasonably good, and it doesn’t really add to the processing time or effort.”

Both the NSW Farmers Association and WoolProducers Australia also push for the use of pain relief, however NSW Farmers does not support mandating the practice.

“Our policy is that we strongly encourage the use of pain relief and enhancement of animal welfare outcomes,” NSW Farmers wool committee chair, Andrew Wood said.

“However this idea of mandating is not the direction that the NSW Farmers Association support as there is no way for it to be enforced. It would have to be done through the state jurisdictions and it would not be feasible or effective for them to monitor compliance.”

Instead, the group supports mandating a National Wool Declaration to force growers to provide transparency about their practices.

WoolProducers Australia president Ed Storey said the VFF’s announcement was consistent with WPA’s own policy.

Mr Storey said that with three relevant products now available on the market it was “entirely appropriate” for analgesia to be used.