A World First

The report is the first of its kind and will go a long way towards improving sustainability in the sheep industry. It emerged from the Sheep Sustainability Framework (SSF), led by Sheep Producers Australia (SPA) and Wool Producers Australia (WPA). The SSF focuses on four themes: caring for sheep, enhancing the environment and climate, taking care of all stakeholders in the industry, and ensuring financial resilience for the industry. The report measures the extent to which the industry is meeting these goals, in light of a nine focus areas and 21 priorities.

Key Findings from The Report

The first annual report of the SSF revealed the following important points, among others:

• The Australian sheep industry is climate neutral as of 2021, and has held steady on net emissions. Gains in productivity have driven emissions intensity down by nine per cent between 2005 and 2020.
  

• Rates of ground cover have improved, with 63.4pc of sheep grazing land over 50pc ground cover since summer 2019.
  

• Worms and breech flystrike are among the biggest health challenges for the industry. Genetic improvement is one of the measures being used to prevent disease.
  

• The industry is rapidly shifting away from the practice of mulesing. Non-mulesed and ceased-mulesed wool has increased as a proportion of the total clip (exact figures to be released in the mid-year update report).