Mulesing was at the forefront of producers’ minds at last week’s Best Wool Best Lamb conference held in Bendigo, Victoria, where the audience forced guest speakers to address the topic.
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Interestingly, National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia director, Chris Wilcox, who responded, is the second person in the past week The Land has heard from the supply chain level of the wool industry to raise concerns about what’s happening with wool buying trends. Our other source, who informed us off the record, raised the same concerns about wool buyers increasingly turning to New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina, to source non-mulesed wool.
Volume-wise, it’s probably not the end of the world just yet – while only 10 per cent of Australia’s clip is non-mulesed, we do produce 70pc of the world’s Merino wool. Only 6pc of New Zealand’s clip is Merino, so it accounts for relatively small volumes in comparison, even when compared only to the 10pc of our clip that is non-mulesed.
It is perhaps more concerning to hear Mr Wilcox acknowledge that mills and brands are unaware of the use of pain relief. This suggests a poor job by our industry in representing growers and educating consumers.
In contrast, activists have had a visible, persistent presence. Our livestock industries certainly don’t have the same continued public presence, so it’s easy to see why consumers might only understand one view point.
Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA’s) managing director, Richard Norton, makes a good point that MLA needs to focus on the marketing, rather than be caught up in the debate of whether mulesing is good or not.
It’s no mean feat though, the task at hand of educating and familiarising consumers on fly strike and mulesing, especially when part of the industry (ie. 10pc) has already abandoned mulesing.
Activists have kept the messaging simple: “mulesing is bad”. That’s all a consumer needs to know as far as they’re concerned, because they can take that message to the checkout where they make purchasing decisions with a clear conscience, regardless of how uninformed they may be.
With the discussion around pain relief still centered on mulesing, it’s going to be a difficult conversation to have, but it seems clear an increasing number of producers want this issue addressed and want to see a clear industry plan.
