what about dealing with this 'flystrike'? Does SmartWool offer an alternative practice?

Sam, I was going to ask the exact same question.

For those who don't know fly strike is caused by maggots eating the living flesh of a sheep's behind, causing massive pain, distress and ultimately death.

Mulesing is currently the lessor of to evils.

Apparently some the alternatives are: topical protein-based treatments, selective breeding, organic insecticides and biological control of blowflies.

There's a bit more information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulesing

After reading the Wiki definition, it sounds less invasive and certainly cheaper then chemical counter-measures. Also it reminds me of a certain procedure (a snip here, a snip there...) that was done to me as an infant...

having seen a fly struck sheep mulesing has my full support. mulesing - nasty yes, essential yes. another case of emotive hysteria from peta in a situation where the alternative solutions are not even close seconds to the current practice for ensuring the health of the sheep.

agree that cutting off their tails is the lesser evil but I seem to remember a more humane (?) way often used, rather than cutting off the tail was rubber band to cut blood flow so it shrivelled & dropped off. still not nice, but not such a shock perhaps.

Imagine farming huge herds of sheep in the hot outback where the land is so sparse & unproductive that properties are measured in square kms... I dont think you can easily or cheaply apply herbal anti-fly lotions to yr sheep bums. Pampered backyard sheep perhaps.

Wouldn't the lesser evil or an alternative be to stop rasing the sheep?

so you recommend castrating all the rams instead then??

Lesser of evils?!?!

Ewan's seen the evil of fly strike, so now he's down with the slicing and yanking of skin from the around the anus of a live creature without anesthetic. How progressive of him...

I believe Ethan is comparing mulesing to his own circumcision... I wonder if realizes that lambs are born far more physically advanced than humans - that is to say baby sheep are at par developmentally with beginning school aged children (I know that sheep don't do the whole spoken language thing, so spare me. I mean that they walk, explore, have the capacity to learn, etc. - something which took Ethan a year or three to warm up to). So, Ethan, if your first day of school commenced with being circumcised sans anaesthesia, would you still have graduated?

All of the above aside, here's a bit of background not covered by the wiki link:
1.) Sheep's posteriors have been covered with wool for thousands of years.
2.) Feces and urine have probably been getting stuck there for just as long.
3.) Flies have been around for even longer than that.
4.) Two world wars in the first half of the last century, and the amassing of armies to fight them, created an unprecedented demand for wool for uniforms. This demand led to a new manner of raising livestock, and the acceptance of the practice of mulesing.

The issue isn't so much flystrike, it's that the animals are now raised in conditions which cause it. All you have to do is keep their bums clean! With one ranch-hand per hundred sheep this was not a problem, but with one per a thousand you have a bunch of dirty animals... If you take out the animal equation, mulesing is to wool what pesticides and preservatives are to food. Do you only buy organic vegetables? Then do the same with your next sweater and support companies like SmartWool.

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