MERINO lambs have not been surgically mulesed on one Victorian Western District property since 2007.
And their owner, Alan Pitcher, has no intention of resuming the fly strike prevention practice in the short term, and most likely, never.
"I have not had one sheep struck," he said.
The Pitchers joins more than 3500 Merino ewes annually on their 700mm average rainfall property, Nanimia near Skipton, about 165km west of Melbourne.
While Mr Pitcher said he still believed surgical mulesing was the most comprehensive strategy to combat fly strike, he said the main reason he chose to stop the practice was to answer the calls for certified non-mulesed wool from the marketplace.
"You've got to listen to what the market is asking. If we don't listen to the people who are buying it (wool) then we will end up losing the industry," he said.
Mr Pitcher said stopping the practice of surgical mulesing was made easy because there are options available.
"A lot of research has gone into clips but it's with genetics more than anything where gains can be made," he said.
On his property, Mr Pitcher has for the past eight years sourced exclusively Soft Rolling Skin (SRS) genetics, and since 2001 bought semen from the top priced rams at Glendemar Multi Purpose Merino (MPM) stud at Marnoo.
He said the plainer body MPM sheep were less prone to fly strike and in his second generation lamb drop bare breech had become evident without losing any wool cut.
In January this year he sold 16 month-old Merino wethers to the boat trade for $87.50/head.
His positive experience, which he insists is being shared by a lot of his fellow woolgrowers who have also stopped mulesing, is one that sheep geneticists believe more Australian woolgrowers can share in.
About 32 percent of Australian wool producers have signaled they would cease the practice of surgical mulesing, a figure many sheep experts want increased.
Sheep Genetics Australia (SGA) recommend Merino producers use Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBV's) to assist them breed for plain bodied sheep that were less prone to fly strike.
According to SGA research there are no technical impediments to creating a far more naturally fly strike-resistant Australian Merino flock.
Wrinkled skin and a tendency to produce dags are the two main pre-requisites for breech strike, and plain-bodied sheep often address both issues.
The science says that breeding for plainer bodies can be done relatively fast, and without compromising wool type or fleece weight, according to Sam Gill of Sheep Genetics Australia (SGA).
The experience of SRS Merino producers bears this out, SRS founder Dr Jim Watts says ? and the fact that plain-bodied sheep do not need mulesing.
A SRS survey of 200 commercial SRS producers, conducted in 2005, found that 30pc had stopped mulesing and another 30pc intended to stop in the near future.
None of the 40 SRS Merino studs mules, and agree not to do so as part of the SRS quality standard.
Not all breeders and wool producers want to follow the SRS route, but Mr Gill observes that anyone can breed for more plainer-bodied sheep using the genetic tools and the knowledge openly available via SGA.
SGA released an "early breech wrinkle" Australian Sheep Breeding Value (ASBV) to the industry in September last year, and in the past six months has seen a 300pc increase in the collection of on-farm information to help validate the breeding value.
Mr Gill said that changing wrinkle at one end of an animal had the same effect at the other end, making breech wrinkle a de-facto measure of the animal's body type.
Two legends have stood in the way of more widespread acceptance of plain-bodied sheep: that they cut less wool, and that they can't produce certain wools like "traditional" superfine.
There is some truth to both stories, Mr Gill said, but the more overwhelming fact is that any downside can be selected out by skilled breeders.
"The relationship between reducing fibre diameter and reducing fleece weight is twice as strong as the relationship between plain-bodied sheep and light fleece weight," Mr Gill said.
"It's harder to increase fleece weight and reduce micron than it is to increase fleece weight and reduce wrinkle."
Producing "traditional" wool from plain-bodied sheep has been proven possible in New England, a superfine stronghold, and other areas.
Later this year, SGA plans to release a breeding value to help producers select away from sheep with a tendency for daggy backsides - another strike against the blowfly.
Further out, because it is genetically more complicated, the SGA hopes to deliver an ASBV for bare breeches.
If it is possible, without any negative effects on other productivity traits, the bare breech ASBV may finally consign the mulesing shear to history.
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