People may think that sheep belong in the Australian landscape, but in fact many suffer and die in the harsh conditions.
Many sheep are kept in paddocks without any shelter from the blazing sun or freezing winds. Young lambs and newly shorn sheep die without shelter when the weather is bad.
Sheep are kept across Australia, except in the north. For example, sheep are run north of Broken Hill, where temperatures are extreme but there are no trees for shade. Imagine having to stand all day under a 40 degree sun. In these arid areas sheep live on saltbush rather than grass.
Sheep are also grazed in southern Australia, where temperatures can fall below freezing. Many die when there is rain and no protection from an icy wind, especially lambs and newly shorn sheep. Over 20% of lambs die before they are weaned, more than 1 in every 5 lambs. The figure is much higher for twins. The main causes are exposure (no shelter from the weather) and malnutrition (the mother not getting enough feed to supply milk).
The bloody backside of a freshly mulesed lamb. Mulesed lambs huddle together in fear.
Sheep suffer a number of painful mutilations, such as mulesing, castration and tail docking. Merino sheep have wrinkly skin. If their backside becomes soiled with urine or faeces, these wrinkles become ideal places for flies to lay their eggs. The maggots hatch and eat into the flesh in what is called flystrike. In mulesing, lambs are placed on their back in a mulesing cradle and the back legs are held down by a metal bar. Strips of skin on the buttocks and tail are cut off with shears to produce a bloody, open wound. When the wound heals the skin will be bare and not attractive to flies. Mulesing is excruciatingly painful and no pain relief is given. Smart farmers have worked on breeding sheep with naturally bare bums so there is no need for this painful mutilation.
Lambs are castrated, either by cutting the scrotum with a knife and squeezing out and removing the testes, or by applying rubber rings around the scrotum so that the blood supply is cut off and the scrotum falls off in 4-6 weeks. Both methods are extremely painful, but no pain relief is given. In Switzerland it has been illegal to castrate ruminants without some form of anaesthetic since 2001. The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), which advises the UK government, has recommended that surgical castration should be banned unless performed by a vet with pain relief.
Tails of lambs are removed either with a knife, rubber rings or a hot iron. All methods are painful, but especially cutting with a knife. The tail stump remains extremely sensitive for the rest of the sheep's life. FAWC has recommended that surgical tail docking should be banned and that pain relief should be used with other methods.
All sheep, whether they are kept for meat or wool, are eventually trucked to slaughter. They may be transported very long distances and be kept for 48 hours without food and water. Have you ever done the 40-hour famine to know what that feels like? It is very tiring for sheep bracing to keep their balance as the truck stops, starts and corners. They may be transported in extreme heat or driving rain.
In most Australian slaughterhouses sheep are stunned (made unconscious) with an electric shock before their throat is cut. However, in some halal slaughterhouses, if sheep are exported to the Middle East, or are killed on the farm, they can have their throat cut while they are fully conscious so they experience the pain and terror of bleeding to death.
Say No to cruelty and make a tasty not-lamb stew.
Fast facts
- There were 79.94 million sheep and lambs in Australia in 2008.
- In 2006-7, 13.3 million sheep and 20.2 million lambs were slaughtered.
- Farms with sheep occupy 30% of Australia's agricultural land and 17% of the total land mass.
- Over 70% of sheep are Merinos kept for both wool and meat.
Factsheet: The harsh life of Australian sheep (7 pages including references)
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