SHEEP welfare lobby groups supporting retailer moves to ban products made with wool from mulesed Merinos are maintaining pressure on the wool industry to adopt a breeding alternative to any form of mulesing.
New South Wales-based registered charities Humane Society International (HSI) and FOUR PAWS Australia Ltd, listed by the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission as "large" charities, last week declared 'steining' or freeze mulesing with liquid nitrogen as an unacceptable alternative to surgical mulesing in their view.
The organisations advised David Jones and Country Road Group clothing divisions of Woolworths Holdings Ltd on a recent policy to not stock items made with wool from mulesed sheep after mid 2023.
In a joint statement, the charities said selective breeding to produce plain-bodied sheep was the "best and most ethical solution to flystrike".
They claimed the freeze mulesing process, adapted from freeze branding and developed and promoted by Gippsland, Victoria, veterinarian John Steinfort, was "a breech mutilation just like mulesing" but using liquid nitrogen rather than shears.
HSI's and FOUR PAWS' rejection of freeze mulesing was timed to coincide with Dr Steinfort and national wool agents Australian Wool Network announcing they had joined forces in AgVet Innovations (AVI) to roll out the patented and automated freeze mulesing process and handpiece Dr Steinfort had invented.
For more than 10 years Dr Steinfort developed a system of clamping loose skin around a lamb breech and tail and using four short bursts in quick succession of liquid nitrogen at temperatures down to minus 50 degrees Celsius to numb the region and freeze the clamped skin.
He claims a single application of the freeze-thaw cycle contracts the skin and the wool falls off permanently.
AVI's aim is to train mulesing contractors in the process, which it calls sheep freeze branding rather than freeze mulesing and in handpiece operation.
A sheep freeze branding service will then be offered initially to woolgrowers across Victoria's Western District and southern New South Wales which could see more than 40,000 sheep processed, AVI said last week.
It also intends to commission university studies to independently validate the data obtained during the development of the sheep freeze branding process.
AVI acknowledges the process is "a transitional stepping stone for woolgrowers whilst improvements in animal genetics continue to be made".
The discomfort lambs feel is said by Dr Steinfort to be similar to what a person feels having a wart burnt off with liquid nitrogen by a doctor.
"Producers agree the animals jump freely out of the cradles, mother up and move readily back to the paddock without setback," Dr Steinfort said.
"The process can be used at lamb marking, weaning or as weaners.
"Producers continually acknowledge the unhindered weight gains, producing better weaning rates and survival.
"Research has shown these sheep produce nine per cent more wool than a sheep which has been mulesed using pain relief - evidence shows there are no setbacks from the procedure."
But Jessica Medcalf from FOUR PAWS disagreed with Dr Steinfort's assessment.
"Currently there is no robust independent scientific evidence to prove that steining or freeze mulesing does not cause significant pain," Ms Medcalf said.
"Alongside HSI and a growing list of brands, FOUR PAWS is opposed to wool from freeze-mulesed sheep being classified as 'non-mulesed'.
"We have highlighted this to AWEX (Australian Wool Exchange) who are currently reviewing their National Wool Declaration, the scheme whereby producers classify their wool as mulesed or non-mulesed for buyers in the supply chain."
Ms Medcalf claimed "the most prominent and internationally recognised assurance schemes for animal welfare conscious buyers", including the global independent Responsible Wool Standard, New Zealand's ZQ Wool with Dyson Jones as a WA agent and Australia's independently verified NewMerino Standard, rejected freeze mulesing.
They do not classify wool from sheep that have been freeze mulesed as "non-mulesed" wool, she said.
HSI program manager for animal welfare Georgie Dolphin said the organisations opposed mulesing because methods that caused pain and discomfort could be replaced by breeding plain-bodied sheep "that are flystrike resistant and suit the challenging Australian climate".
"Selectively breeding the wrinkle from a flock is a pain-free solution which also protects the sheep from flystrike across all of the body, rather than just their breech area," Ms Dolphin said.
"With the right genetics it can be achieved within just five years or less.
"Literally millions of lambs are subjected to mulesing each year and shifting towards another form of breech mutilation is not the answer for modern farming.
"Selectively breeding plain-bodied sheep is the best solution to end both mulesing and flystrike.
"We have spoken to numerous woolgrowers across the country who have successfully made the transition to plain-bodied sheep and are reaping the rewards."
In their statement HSI and FOUR PAWS also claimed Italy-based, third-generation family-owned wool top maker The Schneider Group had indicated it would not accept wool from freeze-mulesed sheep for its Authentico integrity scheme, which guarantees customers a transparent supply chain from farm gate to wool tops.
But local arm's G Schneider Australia managing director Tim Marwedel told Farm Weekly last Thursday the statement was wrong and that the company would take the issue up with the organisations making that claim.
Last month Mr Marwedel and G Schneider Australia chief executive officer Jeffrey Losekoot met with woolgrowers in Goulburn, NSW and Launceston, Tasmania, to discuss wool market demand and update them on a revision of the Authentico scheme to now only accept declared non-mulesed or ceased mulesed wools.
Mr Losekoot told woolgrowers that change to the Authentico scheme, which previously accepted wools from mulesed flocks provided pre and post mulesing pain relief analgesics were administered, was necessary because of growing demand by retailers for non-mulesed wool and more retailers setting policy time commitments for rejecting mulesed wool.
As reported in Farm Weekly a fortnight ago, the Wesfarmers-owned Target and Kmart department store chains have also decided to phase out own brand clothing and bedding lines that contain wool not declared as non-mulesed by 2023 and 2024.
Boutique clothing chains Decjuba and Forever New have also announced bans on mulesed wool products.
Dr Steinfort met with The Schneider Group management and staff in July to explain his freeze mulesing process.
The Schneider Group published an extensive article on Dr Steinfort's sheep freeze branding on its website in August but did not endorse or reject the process as an alternative to surgical mulesing.
The RSPCA has said surgical mulesing and alternative forms like freeze mulesing failed to address "the underlying need which is to breed plainer-bodied sheep which is one of the most important strategies to reduce flystrike".
"It is unacceptable to continue to breed sheep that are susceptible to flystrike and therefore require an on-going need for breech modification, including steining, sheep freeze branding, freeze mulesing, or mulesing, to manage flystrike risk," the RSPCA said.
"Any breech modification procedure should only be considered an interim, short-term solution that accompanies a breeding program that focusses on flystrike resistance, and is carried out only where absolutely necessary to manage at-risk sheep," it said.