It's not really done outside of Australia, because the flies there are lot more vicious than the ones in more temperate climates.
>I'm certain the shepherds would rather do without, but there seems to be no viable alternative, and there's a lot of people in Aus who are dependant on the industry.
The Australian government is actually working to phase mulesing out by 2009 or 2010. There are new technologies being made available, but it's only been in the past 5-10 years that they've caught on. Which doesn't really change the fact that shepherds aren't mulesing because they think it's a hell of a good time.
>Regarding anthropomorphizing; ya, everyone does it, but people these days are so isolated from farming as children that they have trouble dealing with the realities of food and animal product production. My brother had a pet steer named "Fred". He was delicious.
That's exactly what pisses me off so much about the division between urban and rural people. People who have never lived near a farm before do so, and then they start complaining about how the smell of the manure is destroying their bucolic home.
no subject
>I'm certain the shepherds would rather do without, but there seems to be no viable alternative, and there's a lot of people in Aus who are dependant on the industry.
The Australian government is actually working to phase mulesing out by 2009 or 2010. There are new technologies being made available, but it's only been in the past 5-10 years that they've caught on. Which doesn't really change the fact that shepherds aren't mulesing because they think it's a hell of a good time.
>Regarding anthropomorphizing; ya, everyone does it, but people these days are so isolated from farming as children that they have trouble dealing with the realities of food and animal product production. My brother had a pet steer named "Fred". He was delicious.
That's exactly what pisses me off so much about the division between urban and rural people. People who have never lived near a farm before do so, and then they start complaining about how the smell of the manure is destroying their bucolic home.