PETA uproar pushes mulesing alternatives

PEAK wool industries have now decreed that mulesing will be phased out by 2010, due largely to the recent outcry from animal welfare groups such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) as well as concerns from retailers.

Researchers are now developing new mulesing techniques such as revolutionary needleless injectors while a genetic mutation has been discovered on a South Australian farm in which sheep are being bred with a large bare area where wool mulesing usually occurs.

Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) animal health and welfare program manager, Doctor Scott Williams, said the two main techniques that researchers were working on were collagenase injections and plastic clips.

“We are looking at injecting collagenase or a similar active ingredient into the skin,” Dr
Williams said.

“The injection causes the skin to restructure and tighten up and the end result looks like
mulesing.
“However, the challenge with this technique is finding an applicator that delivers the injection into the area reliably.”

Dr Williams said applying plastic clips was also a possibility.

“The clips would be applied like a hair pin,” he said.

“When the clip closes it cuts off the blood supply to the flap of skin which eventually falls off.
“It only takes 24 hours for this to happen.”

Dr Williams was also keen to learn more about the genetic mutation discovered at ‘Calcookara Stud’ on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

“We are trying to understand the basics behind this mutation, which is producing a bare bottom in sheep,” he said.

“We want to figure it out and exploit it and discover if we can breed them, as well as any trade-offs that might occur in this process such as effects on wool.”

Yet not all wool-growers are keen to utilise the new techniques, preferring to stick to more traditional methods even if they are seen as harsh by animal welfare groups.

Local wool-grower and sheep breeders Peter and Elizabeth Clark of ‘Leander’, outside of Longreach, admitted that while mulesing was a gruesome operation, they considered it as something that had to be done.

“We need to look at mulesing from the management side of things and the ease it takes in doing it, both in terms of labour and the effect it has on sheep,” Mrs Clark said.

“I’ve heard of the new techniques such as injections and clips, but how long would this type of mulesing take?

“It takes just one person to perform traditional mulesing on a lamb and it isn’t in the cradle for more than a minute.”

However, Dr Williams said AWI had set a target that the new techniques would be no more labour intensive and inexpensive than traditional mulesing.

“We believe we can achieve this so we are not overly concerned with this issue,” he said.

“I am reasonably optimistic and quite cheered by the results that AWI’s research has achieved.
“The injections should be available by the end of 2007 and the clips could have a limited market release by late 2006.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re confident we’ll have these techniques in place by 2010.”

Niel Smith of ‘Calcookara’ in South Australia said he believed the genetic mutation discovered at his stud was a wonderful thing.

“We first discovered the mutation in 2002 when we were looking at rams to take to a major field day,” he said.

“We noticed some of them had a bare patch in the breech area.
“This was before any of the debate had come up from PETA and for awhile we kept it all under wraps as we weren’t sure about its inheritability.”

Mr Smith explained that the mutation was a little like balding in men.

“The wool strips when the sheep are about 12 to 16 months old but mating like to like we are seeing it in the young sheep now,” he said.

“We have scored our ewes from one to five and about 280 of them have a score of three which we consider to be workable.
“The ewes showing the trait are still giving us as much wool as ever.
“It’s all looking very good and the heritability of the trait is above average which is very pleasing.”

Mr Smith said however that the stud merino fraternity is still sceptical of the trait.

“They believe we are breeding extra wool off the sheep,” he said.

“But we are only taking off rubbishy wool and the commercial sector is accepting this really well.
“This is a long-term thing and it won’t happen overnight but it does look like it’s going to be easier to breed this trait than we thought.”