Why sheep producers could be forced to use pain relief

Mandatory pain relief at mulesing may soon become the national standard, and could be just the start of increased animal welfare expectations for producers.

Momentum for making pain relief mandatory for certain sheep husbandry practices is growing with a meeting next week expected to call for national agreement.

And while the initial move is around mandating pain relief at mulesing, consumer pressure could see this extend to pain relief for lamb marking and castration.

Already some wool supply programs list pain relief at marking as one of the criteria to qualify, and The Weekly Times has been told certain international meat buyers are now asking if lamb comes from non-mulesed sheep.

The WoolProducers Australia’s health and welfare advisory committee is meeting next week and will again call on all states to agree to making pain relief at mulesing mandatory, a policy position it has held since 2018.

The only state where pain relief at mulesing is mandatory remains Victoria.

There are calls to make pain relief at mulesing mandatory across all states. Picture: Zoe Phillips

While WPA does not have policy calling for mandatory pain relief for other procedures such as tail docking and castration, chief executive officer Jo Hall said they were “aware of growing pressures from the trade on this front”.

Ms Hall said it was time the industry agreed on what could become a key stumbling block for trade.

“There are varying levels of support across national and state grower representative bodies for mandatory pain relief for mulesing, with many adopting the same policy while others ‘strongly encourage’ the use of pain relief,” she said

“It would be better for industry if there was a united front on this issue, as it would send a very clear message to our customers and general public.”

Ms Hall said legislation to enforce pain relief at mulesing in all states would assist the industry’s reputation, even though 90 per cent were already doing it.

Sheep Producers Australia chief executive Bonnie Skinner said sheep husbandry procedures were one of the major policy priorities for the organisation.

“We support measures to mandate the use of pain relief for mulesing through industry-developed quality assurance programs, and the auditing of these practices through such programs,” Ms Skinner said.

Animal welfare remains a key issue to retaining markets.

She said there was a risk of restricted market access to product that did not meet welfare credentials that “needs to be proactively managed”.

“Sheep Producers Australia believes strongly that prime lambs should not be mulesed and encourages producers to introduce genetics and management changes to enable prime lamb mothers not to be mulesed,” she said.