Debunk the myths about mulesing of sheep
Fact or Fiction? Find out the truth about mulesing!
This is unfortunately fiction!
It is not just wool which gets removed, but rather large stripes of skin without adequate anaesthesia, which makes it extremely painful for the young lambs.
Read more here!
Read more here!
That's absolutely right!
Luckily, mulesing isn't necessary since pain-free solutions exist and are available. Read more here.
Unfortunately, this is no fiction.
These flies are especially attracted by moisture, urine and faeces retained in the animals’ wrinkly skin!
The sad truth is that this is fiction!
Mulesing does not always protect the sheep from flystrike, as the flies can still infest the rest of the sheep’s body.
It's a fact!
This is fiction!
Since more than 100 years, Merino sheep have been overbred to have excessive wrinkles in order to produce more wool. Unfortunately, flies like to lay their eggs in these wrinkles, thus infesting the sheep.
Another fiction!
Less wrinkly or wrinkle-free sheep are more resistant against flystrike and grow the same amount and same quality of wool as overbred sheep with excessive wrinkles.
Yes, this is fiction!
Australia is the only country in the world where mulesing is still being practiced, while its neighbour New Zealand banned mulesing in 2018.
This is unfortunately fiction!
The procedure is performed annually without adequate pain relief on over 10 million lambs in Australia and it does not even solve the problem of fly infestation. Flies can still lay eggs in other skin folds on the sheep’s body (so called “'bodystrike').
