Around 14.5pc of wool in 2008/09 will come from non-mulesed sheep and almost half of all lambs born this year will not be mulesed, according to the Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee.
The projection is based upon a survey of more than 1000 woolgrowers taken across Australia in July and early August, supervised by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) and funded by Australian Wool Innovation.
The DAFWA survey included questions on the proportion of non-mulesed wool produced and lambs that would not be mulesed.
Based on the survey results it is expected that around 14.5% of Australian wool production in 2008/09 would be from non-mulesed sheep, an increase from the 11.5pc reported in the February 2008 survey.
The survey also indicated that almost half of all lambs (46pc) born in 2008 would not be mulesed.
This compares with 32pc reported in the February 2008 survey.
In addition to these results, 21pc of producers have a breeding strategy which involves sourcing bare-breeched rams, up from 14.8pc recorded in February.
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