Sheep shearing

The Merino breed, accounting for around 80% of the wool produced in Australia, have been selectively bred to have wrinkled skin resulting in excessive amounts of wool while making them much more prone to flystrike. To reduce soiling and the risk of flystrike for the lambs who make it to summer, their tails are docked or cut off entirely, and they are often mulesed at the same time, which involves cutting off the skin around their buttocks and the base of their tail with metal shears. If the lambs are younger than 6 months, it is legal to do this without any pain relief.

Sheep shearers are paid by the number of sheep shorn, not by the hour, so speed is prioritised over precision, and there is no requirement for formal training or accreditation.

After a few years, when they can no longer produce enough wool to be considered profitable, the sheep are sent to slaughter and sold as mutton, while lambs raised for meat are killed between 4 and 12 months of age, far short of a natural lifespan of 12-14 years.

Approximately 32 million sheep and lambs are killed each year in Australia.