Warm reception for Tassie wool

Tasmanian farmers are key suppliers of quality wool sourced from their non-mulesed sheep as demand from consumers soars, explains Jessica Medcalf

EVERY year millions of Australian lambs raised for wool production continue to suffer the brutal mutilation practice of mulesing.

Mulesing, a practice unique to Australia, is still widespread across the country which produces 75 per cent of all the world’s apparel wool.

The process removes folds of skin from the tail area of a sheep, intended to reduce fly strike.

Tasmania has one of the highest non-mulesed declarations, with 30 per cent of the clip already declared non-mulesed, well above the national average of about 12 per cent declared nonmulesed.

Just last week Ortovox, a major outdoor clothing brand from Germany, held a roundtable with wool producers, brokers, auditors and animal protection organisation Four Paws at the Old Woolstore in Hobart.

The aim of the day was to bring everyone together to advance sourcing practices which feature animal welfare, and share learnings and experience.

Ortovox works with producers who are nonmulesed, and almost all of the wool they use comes from Tasmania.

Stefanie Rieder-Haas, the corporate social responsibility manager of Ortovox, explains, “The biggest challenge for us was to find farmers who were driven by their beliefs and values.

“The long-term contracts we offer for non-mulesed wool give security to both parties and create a strong relationship between brand and farmers. To be willing to change the way of thinking and acting has always been our key to innovation.”

About 3000 Australian wool producers have already stopped mulesing, making up about 10 per cent of the national output.

While progress has been happening in response to consumer demands, what is needed now is an industrywide push for change that is long overdue.

At the Ortovox roundtable, many Tasmanian producers came forward to express why non-mulesed wool is important in the industry. “I haven’t mulesed for 14 years and it’s certainly working for our enterprise” says Tasmanian wool producer, Rae Young, of the property “Lewisham” in Ross.

Will Bennett from Ashby Farm said, “There were two main reasons behind our decision to stop mulesing. Firstly, we saw a potential marketing opportunity in having non-mulesed wool. Secondly, we wondered if our sheep really needed to be mulesed from an animal welfare perspective. For us it was a decision towards sustainable farming.”

Global animal protection organisation Four Paws has just launched a detailed guidebook (available at www.wearitkind.org/ mulesing-guidebook), to assist and support brands to move away from mulesed sheep wool, and is calling on brands to develop a plan to go mulesed-free.

Hearing about the demand from consumers on animal welfare, gaining insight from producers, and seeing how brands like Ortovox are taking steps to ensure better wool sourcing, again reinforced that an end to mulesing can and will happen.

It speaks volumes that all the producers at the Ortovox roundtable run viable, nonmulesed enterprises and hold strong direct relationships with brands.

We are also co-ordinating a petition, which has had an overwhelming response with more than 45,000 people calling on all brands to commit to phasing out mulesed wool.

Alongside the tens of thousands of shoppers who have already voiced their objection to mulesing, we hope to see more brands take the

MORE THAN 100 BRANDS AROUND THE WORLD HAVE NOW COMMITTED TO THE PHASE OUT OF MULESING, INCLUDING H&M, KATHMANDU AND ESPRIT

same steps as Ortovox, in committing to phase out of mulesed wool.

More than 100 brands around the world have now committed to the phase-out of mulesing. Brands include H&M, Kathmandu and Esprit.

Four Paws is encouraging more people to speak up for Aussie lambs by signing our petition.