Kristin Murdock, Naracoorte Community News
The AWI Merino Husbandry Practices Survey contacted 1203 Merino producers from the MLA member database to ask about specific Merino management practices.
Results recently released showed a downward trend in mulesing.
Ewe lambs mulesed fell from 63 per cent in 2019 to 52 per cent in 2021. Mulesing in male lambs showed a similar decline from 54 per cent to 44 per cent.
The trend is especially apparent among woolgrowers with smaller flock sizes of between 100 to 499 sheep.
Around 84 per cent of Merino producers who did not mules ceased mulesing in the past 16 years, with 50 per cent ceasing in the past six years.
They reported the main reason they had stopped mulesing was because they had bred sheep with less body wrinkle (39pc).
Breeding naturally flystrike resistant sheep can take from five years to several decades and this survey data suggests that woolgrowers are seeing their breeding programs coming to fruition, giving them the confidence to cease mulesing.
Around 20 per cent of woolgrowers who mules, said they are likely or very likely to cease mulesing in the next five years.
Those with larger flock sizes were significantly more unlikely or very unlikely to cease mulesing in the next five years (flock size 500- 1999: 57 per cent and flock size 2000+: 65 per cent).
If mulesing was no longer an option, 47 per cent of these respondents (who could give more than one option) said they would rely more on flystrike chemicals for prevention or treatment, 45 per cent would increase crutching frequency, 41 per cent would breed sheep more resistant to flystrike, and about 23 per cent would move to another enterprise.
Almost all woolgrowers used pain management; 92 per cent of respondents that mulesed in the said they used pain management at mulesing with the anaesthetic and antiseptic spray TriSolfen® used in 96 per cent of cases.
Only a small percentage is using the longer-term analgesic injections (4 per cent) or oral gel (5 per cent). Eight per cent of respondents used a combination of a longer acting analgesic with TriSolfen®, which is the best practice for pain management at mulesing.
According to the survey results, more pain management is needed at castration.
Almost all respondents castrated their male lambs (98 per cent); rings were almost universally used (rings 97 per cent, cold knife 2 per cent, shears/knife 1 per cent). Trends in castration practices have not changed since the 2017 AWI Merino Husbandry Practices Survey According to AWI, the best practice for pain management at mulesing, tail docking and castration is to make sure your lambs have both a long-acting analgesic and the shorter acting local anaesthetic. Tri-Solfen®, a local anaesthetic, was registered for mulesing in 2007 and tail docking and castration in 2016, whilst the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) Metacam and Buccalgesic were registered for mulesing, tail docking and castration in 2016 (Metacam) and 2017 (Buccalgesic).
Numnuts, a handheld device that delivers a local anaesthetic for ring castration and tail docking by rings (NumOcaine) was only launched in 2019. Hence, the results of this survey may indicate woolgrowers’ unfamiliarity with the use or availability of these products for tail docking and castration. If you carry out all three husbandry procedures at once, a single dose of an analgesic such as Buccalgesic or Metacam will cover the lamb for all three husbandry procedures.
This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.
