| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| mochyn |
Mulesing...is, apparently, never done in the Falklands. So you can buy your merino fleece and yarn from there! |
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| colour it green |
oh thats good to know -is it actually banned or just not practiced? | ||||
| Brownbear |
No need for mules since they got Landrovers, and sheep. |
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| Penny |
Can someone explain 
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| Gervase |
Mulesing is a particularly brutal way of avoiding flystrike and daggy bums - essentially they strip the skin off the tail and around the bum, leaving a raw patch of flesh which eventually scabs and scars over so no fleece will grow there. It's a revolting practice. | ||||
| Penny |
How disgusting 
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| wellington womble |
Ugh, that is nasty. I will make sure I don't condone that with my cash. | ||||
| vegplot |
Who on earth practices that? | ||||
| colour it green |
Australia. Not sure where else
no pain relief.. they just cut the flesh away... |
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| mochyn |
An NZ, although Aus at least is phasing it out by the end of 2010. don't know about South Africa, though. There's a clear explanation on Wikipedia. Sally has pointed me towards the Crafty Notions site where they carry Falklands tops in a good range of colours. Also Violetgreen sells merino yarns in fantastic colours and Jane from there assures me it's Falklands fibre. |
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| milkmaid |
it is horrible and another reason why i aviod nz lamb 
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| Stacey |
Yeah, craftynotions is where I get mine from. The colours can be a bit dull and the wool takes quite a long time to felt for some reason but you know exactly where the sheep have come from | ||||
| Brownbear |
What a revolting thing to do to a sheep. I suppose by the same principle, one might guard against a damaged knee ligament by sawing your leg off. | ||||
| gil |
It's actually worse than that, BB :
Merino sheep are very woolly. Wool grows on the skin. Therefore, the more skin the sheep has, the greater the wool crop, the more profit per sheep. Merino bloodlines are selected that favour sheep with lots of skin. The sheep are deliberately bred to be very baggy-skinned. Therefore they have baggy-skinned bottoms that attract flies. Therefore they are mulesed. For 'animal welfare' reasons. 
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| Brownbear |
Is there a humane way to carry out such a procedure? | ||||
| gil |
Nip 'n' tuck under general anaesthetic ?
Not profitable where sheep are concerned. There is some anti-mulesing feeling in Australia, but I don't know how far it extends among commercial sheep farmers |
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| Brownbear |
I was thinking more along the lines of tail-docking for puppies, done at a day or so old. |
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| gil |
It's not so much the tail that is the problem - tails can be docked with rubber rings at birth - but the baggy bum. Flies like to lay their eggs in the creases.
Oh, and that was the other thing that freaked me about sheep in Oz - I saw extreme tail docking to the point where there was no tail at all. This leaves the orifices open, and the sheep has no way to flick away flies, which then lay eggs, etc etc.... In the UK, the standard is to tail dock so that the anus and vagina are still covered by the tail |
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| colour it green |
I thought it was a legal requirement. docking of tails using the rubber rings is ok in my mind, does not seem to bother the lambs at all. cutting the flesh with a pair of shears though... |
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| gil |
Yes, sorry, 'legal', that's what I meant, though I've seen Texels/Beltex at shows (probably tups) where the coverage was very close to the limit IMHO But in Oz, the tail was a barely visible stump (that was in the sheep pens of some breeds at the Royal Melbourne Show) |
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| colour it green |
thats not good. I must admit, prior to this thread I had not made the connection between mulesing and merino. Shall be aware from now on. |
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| milkmaid |
i also avoid anchor butter ,the docking of cows tails doesn't sit well with me 
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| alice |
They don't do they?
Surely not?
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| milkmaid |
yep
http://www.awionline.org/pubs/Quarterly/fall02/taildocking.htm |
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| colour it green |
and I was just avoiding it on the grounds that we can make butter here and foodmiles support your local farmer an all that. along with NZ lamb etc. | ||||
| Stacey |
Someone was asking if peruvian merino is mulesed but I can find anything about it on the net 
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