SYDNEY – Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), an authoritative organisation in the country’s wool growing industry, has faced backlash from its peers after launching its Flystrike Research, Development, Education, Extension and Communication Five-Year Strategy (2019-2024) without holding consultations.
The strategy’s ambition, which is to ‘ensure the lifetime welfare and productivity of sheep and reduce the reliance on mulesing’, addresses sheep breeding and selection; breech modification procedures; anaesthesia; education and promotion; and non-invasive management practices for the industry to adopt as it transitions from mulesing.
WoolProducers Australia and the Australian Wool Growers Association are amongst the bodies that were not informed of the strategy prior to its release, and aren’t sold on its credentials to accelerate change.
