Farm Tender

Mecardo Analysis - Non-mulesed and pain relief wool volumes reviewed

By Andrew Woods | Source: AWEX, ICS

The issue of mulesing and animal rights continues to bubble along in the supply chain. The concrete proof of this is the existence of contracts for non-mulesed wool, generally outside of the auction system, where money is paid for this quality in the wool delivered. This article takes a quick look at the volume of non-mulesed and pain relief wool sold at auction during the past year.

Figure 1 shows the monthly proportion of wool sold that is declared as not mulesed, ceased mulesed or where pain relief was used from 2008 through the current market (a decade). During the decade, the proportion of wool declared to have used pain relief has risen from around 3% to around 30%, on average an increase close to 3% per year. The proportion of wool from flocks which have declared to have ceased mulesing has been relatively static in the 2% to 3% range.
2018-08-16 Wool Fig 1
Wool declared to be from flocks that have not been mulesed has reached 10% to 12% of sales at auction. On average this category of wool has been increasing by close to 1% of sales per year, although it was stable around 6% in the 2011 to 2014 period. Figure 2 shows the proportion of wool declared as from not mulesed flocks, with a simple linear trend overlaid.

2018-08-16 Wool Fig 2

As “wools ain’t wools” Figure 3 shows a breakup of declared wool from the past year broken up by the form of declaration (not mulesed, ceased mulesing, pain relief) and breed of sheep. This shows that Merino and crossbred wool sheep provide approximately half of the not mulesed wool each (Merino 5.7% and crossbred 4.8%) while Merinos supply the vast majority of wool declared to be from flocks which used pain relief (Merino 27.7% of 29.3% total).

2018-08-16 Wool Fig 3

Finally, Figure 4 shows the proportion of each declaration for each breed. This shows that some 7% of Merino wool sold in the past year was declared as not mulesed, 1.8% as ceased mulesing and 35% as having used pain relief.

2018-08-16 Wool Fig 4

While the trends continue to be in the right direction, from the perspective of the supply chain, which reflects concern for animal rights picked up from retail customers, the increase in supply is slow. There is an element of the “chicken and the egg” conundrum in this process. Farmers will deliver more wool from flocks which do not use mulesing if prices reward the effort and cost. On the buy, side processors are loath to chase too much non-mulesed wool at auction as it will be very easy to drive the price up for wool in such limited supply. It seems that in the interim, orders at auction for non-mulesed wool will quietly continue, hoping not to push prices up too much while wool will be non-mulesed wool will be sought outside of auction where affordable premiums can be paid.

Key points
   * The supply of non-mulesed wool continues to trend higher, with the supply rising by around 1% of the clip per year.
   * The supply of wool from flocks using pain relief has been increasing by around 3% of the clip per year.
   * Around half of the non-mulesed wool is from Merino sheep and half is from crossbred sheep.
   * The supply of non-mulesed wool in Australia remains relatively small and restricts the ability of mills to source such wool.

What does this mean?
The proportion of wool sold at auctions in Australia declared to have come from flocks which do not use mulesing, have ceased mulesing and or have used pain relief continue to trend higher. The increase in the proportion of wool with a pain relief declaration is increasing at about three times that of wool declared to be not mulesed. When looked at by breed, only half of the not mulesed wool is Merino, which is about 7% of the Merino clip. This small proportion remains an issue for mills wanting to source non-mulesed wool.