PETA Im confused and a little angry about your post that says you cant have one without the other showing a picture of woollen gloves with a dead sheep below it. I’ve been keeping an eye on your recent comments and biting my tongue because I’m not one to be confrontational. But Ive had a scroll through some of your replies (which, by the way, are mostly cut and pastes of the same spiel) and it’s really got me wild. There are several different issues youre referring to in your comments, but youre using two completely unrelated images to portray it. First of all, at first glance your picture insinuates that you cannot obtain woollen products without slaughtering a sheep. This is completely untrue and extremely misleading for those who don’t know any better. A sheeps wool can be harvested more than once a year for many years without having to kill it. Its exactly the same as saying you cant have milk without killing a cow which, just in case you didnt know, is also untrue. Secondly, some of your comments are very misguided. As both a farmer and shearer Im compelled to highlight some facts about sheep and shearing from my experience. Please note this is from a New Zealand perspective. 1. You state “Sheep in the wool industry are sold for slaughter when unneeded or old. Every year, around 3 million sheep undergo the cruelty of live export from Australia to the Middle East and North Africa. These sheep are slaughtered after enduring grueling journeys on extremely crowded, filthy, disease-ridden ships.” Although I know little about live export, I do know it’s totally unrelated to shearing. Yes, sheep are exported on ships to foreign countries but not because they are old or unneeded. Generally sheep that are old or unneeded are disposed of in that country, as a foreign buyer wouldn’t pay good money to import sheep that werent of good quality. Live export is usually a way to import different and/or better genetics to improve the quality of a flock(s). I will not discuss the conditions on the ships as I know nothing about that side of it. 2. Slaughter of sheep. You state “sheep in the wool industry are sold for slaughter when unneeded or old”. Somewhat correct, but not in the way you portray it. Sheep are bred and eventually slaughtered as a way of obtaining red meat, a very important source of protein worldwide. In the same way that dairy cows produce both milk and meat, sheep produce wool and meat (and milk in some instances). This is the same for beef cattle. The NZ production system as a general overview involves a flock of ewes (female sheep) that produce lambs each year for several years. Some of the lambs are selected as replacements for the older/non-producing ewes and the rest of the lambs are grown out and slaughtered for meat. Wool is a valuable byproduct of this process. In New Zealand, sheep are slaughtered in a humane way using a stun gun. Stunning ensures an immediate loss of consciousness to prevent animals from feeling any pain during the slaughter process. It is compulsory for all animals to be stunned before commercial slaughter in New Zealand and there is no exemption to the requirement for pre-slaughter stunning. 3. Shearing. Shearing has been a part of my life since I was born and continues to be a part of my daily existence. In fact, shearing is the sole source of my familys income. Both my husband and I shear/have shorn as both a job and a professional sport and hold world records and a world title in shearing. New Zealand shearers are renowned for their prowess in the shearing industry worldwide. You state “Shearers are usually paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast work without regard for the sheep’s welfare”. Yes, shearers are paid on the number of sheep they shear per day. This does encourage them to work faster but doesnt automatically mean they do so at the expense of the animals welfare. They are doing it to be more efficient, meaning the animals can be in and out of the shed faster and back into their paddocks to feed. Dealing with live animals is both an art and a science in itself. Shearing involves the integration of a live animal, a mechanically driven handpiece and a shearer. As with any act performed by people, human error does occur but it is not intentional as there are so many variables involved. One sheep is not like another in its breed, stature, temperament, the ease with which the handpiece can move through the wool, how much feed and water the animal has had in the 48 hours prior to shearing, it’s physiological state … not to mention the temperature, weather conditions, how sharp the gear is … the list goes on. Shearers do their best to adapt to each situation, and indeed, each sheep, and do so with the utmost respect for the animals. A day’s shearing (8 hours) is the equivalent of running two back-to-back marathons. Many shearers will shear seven days a week for weeks and even months at a time, so energy expenditure is carefully rationed on a daily basis. It is not in their interest to waste time and/or energy “beating” sheep as some recent videos suggest. I don’t know the origins of those videos but in my experience this does not happen on an even semi-regular basis in New Zealand. Many employment contracts state that shearers are liable for any injured sheep and must reimburse the farmer in those instances. Shearing is important for a sheep’s wellbeing. - Sheep that don’t get shorn are at risk of getting fly struck, in which flies lay eggs on the sheep, they then hatch into maggots and begin to eat the sheep’s flesh while it’s still alive. Left untreated, sheep can die a horrible death from this. - When they are shorn in summer to remove their fleece, which, as you will know, provides warmth and insulation, this allows them to regulate their body temperature better. - Removal of the fleece also ensures the sheep don’t get caught in blackberry/gorse and die of starvation. - Ewes are shorn in winter with a special comb that leaves more wool on, meaning that once their lambs are born and the weather turns bad, they will seek shelter for both themselves and the lamb(s), preventing death of the lambs through exposure. I strongly suggest you stop misleading people with these gruesome pictures that are completely untrue. If you want to talk about live export, go for it, but don’t bring shearing into it. All you are doing is showing your ignorance for the reality of the shearing industry and is fuelling an unnecessary debate on an unrelated issue.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 01:30:22 +0000