What Is Mulesing? The Wool Practice Behind Every Merino Label

As of June 2025, only 23% of Australian wool bales were declared non-mulesed. If you buy merino for a baby, mulesing is the single welfare question sitting behind the label, and almost no garment tag mentions it.

Key facts

• Mulesing removes wool-bearing skin from around a lamb's breech and tail, leaving smooth scar tissue that cannot trap moisture or faeces.
• It is done to prevent breech flystrike, in which blowflies lay eggs in soiled wool and the maggots feed on living tissue.
• New Zealand banned it under regulation 59 of the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018.
• Australia has no ban. Declaration is voluntary through the National Wool Declaration, introduced in 2008.
• June 2025 figures: 76% of bales declared a mulesing status, 23% declared non-mulesed, 3% declared ceased mulesing, and 44% declared pain relief was used.
• IVN BEST is the textile standard that requires documented proof of mulesing-free husbandry for wool from at-risk regions.

What exactly is mulesing?

The RSPCA describes the procedure as "cutting crescent-shaped flaps of skin from around a lamb's breech and tail using sharp shears." It is carried out on lambs, typically within their first weeks of life, and historically without pain relief.

The wound heals into taut, hairless scar tissue. Because scar tissue has no wrinkles and grows no wool, it stays dry and clean, and blowflies are far less likely to strike there.

Why is it done at all?

Because of how merino sheep were bred.

Merino wool is fine and valuable, so breeders selected for wrinkled skin, which increases the surface area growing wool on a single animal. Those wrinkles, especially around the tail, hold urine, faeces, and moisture.

Blowflies lay eggs in that damp wool. The larvae hatch and feed on the sheep's living flesh. Untreated flystrike kills, slowly and horribly, and it can affect large numbers of animals in a warm, wet season.

This matters for how you think about the issue. The alternative to mulesing is not "leave the sheep alone." A farm that simply stops mulesing without changing anything else has traded one welfare problem for another. The real alternative is breeding sheep that don't need it.

What replaces it?

Several approaches, used in combination:

• Breeding plain-bodied sheep. Selecting for low wrinkle and natural flystrike resistance removes the underlying cause. It takes years and costs some fleece weight, which is why uptake has been slow.
• Crutching. Shearing the wool around the breech regularly so it stays clean.
• Chemical prevention. Preventive treatments applied during fly season.
• Liquid nitrogen. A freezing method that tightens the skin without cutting. Added to the National Wool Declaration as its own category, LN, in 2021.
• Pain relief. Not an alternative, but analgesia and anaesthesia during the procedure are now widespread. 44% of declared Australian bales in June 2025 reported pain relief.

New Zealand's ban worked because the national flock is largely crossbred and plainer-bodied, so the practice was already rare before it became illegal.

How do I tell whether wool is mulesing-free?

You usually cannot, from the garment alone. Very few brands print it on a label, and "merino" tells you nothing.

Four things to look for, roughly in order of reliability:

1. IVN BEST certification. The standard requires, at clause 2.4.13, that "proof must be supplied that the wool derives from mulesing-free sheep husbandry" for wool from risk areas. That is documented and audited rather than declared.
2. New Zealand origin. Mulesing is illegal there, so New Zealand wool is mulesing-free as a matter of law.
3. European wool. Flystrike pressure is lower and mulesing is not practised in Europe. Brands working with German, Austrian, or South American organic merino generally state it.
4. A brand statement naming its supply chain. Weaker, but better than silence. A brand that names its farms or its declaration status is making a checkable claim. A brand that says only "ethically sourced" is not.

If you want a shortcut: a wool garment carrying IVN BEST or coming from New Zealand is mulesing-free. Everything else needs asking.

Is the industry changing?

Slowly. The National Wool Declaration covers about 85% of Australian wool sold at auction, and declaration rates have climbed, but the non-mulesed share was still under a quarter in mid-2025. Several European retailers have set their own deadlines and dropped suppliers who could not comply, which has done more to move the market than any legislation so far.

The honest summary: the practice is in slow decline, it is not close to over, and the buying decisions of European parents are one of the few pressures on it.

Frequently asked questions

Is mulesing painful?

Yes. It is a surgical procedure on unanaesthetised skin, and the wound takes weeks to heal. Pain relief is increasingly used but is not universal, and is not required by Australian law nationally.

Is mulesing banned anywhere?

New Zealand prohibits it under regulation 59 of the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018. Australia, the largest merino producer, has no national ban.

Does organic wool mean mulesing-free?

Not automatically. Organic certification governs feed, land, and veterinary treatment. IVN BEST explicitly requires proof of mulesing-free husbandry; other standards vary, so check the specific certification rather than assuming.

Is wool from a mulesing-free farm always better for the sheep?

Only if the farm has a working flystrike strategy. Plain-bodied breeding, crutching, and monitoring are what make mulesing unnecessary. "Non-mulesed" on its own is a claim about one procedure, not a full welfare picture.

What about wool from Europe?

Mulesing is not practised in Europe. European wool, including most German and Austrian merino and wool-silk brands, is mulesing-free.

Related reading

• What does kbT mean on a wool label?
• What does organic actually mean in textiles?
• What GOTS certification means
• IVN BEST: the strictest textile standard

Sources

RSPCA Australia Knowledgebase, National Wool Declaration (June 2025 figures); New Zealand Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018, reg. 59; NATURTEXTIL IVN certified BEST standard, version 6.1.