Responding to a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign about the mistreatment of sheep during shearing, a sheep producer and a shearing contractor said better training of shearers had eliminated much of the mistreatment of sheep during shearing. 

Their response comes after four shearers pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges in Horsham Magistrates Court last month. 

The shearers were charged over incidents that happened in 2013.

The charges were laid after PETA activists working as rouseabouts secretly filmed shearers at work in western Victoria.

They uploaded footage of what they described as the mistreatment of sheep on video sharing website YouTube. 

Sheep stud breeder Thomas Silcock, of Telangatuk East, north of Horsham, gave evidence in court about the state of the industry.

Mr Silcock said historically the Australian wool industry had seen sheep abused for a long time.

“It’s something the industry should not be proud of but it’s a factual part of shearing,” he said.

“As a breeder, I don’t like to see my stock abused.”

He said abused sheep were not acceptable from an ethics or value points of view for breeders. 

Mr Silcock said shearers were now getting better training than they were before.

“The reality is there will always be sheep that are more difficult to shear than others,” he said.

“Often they fight against the process.

“But skilled shearers manage to hold sheep comfortably and with good equipment, they can ensure a comfortable process.”

He said there was now a no-tolerance attitude to mistreatment of sheep.

Shearing contractor Jamie Tippet of Nurrabiel, south of Horsham, said a lot of work had been done to change the mindset of the industry in the past few years.

“There is zero tolerance now, which runs Australia-wide,” he said.

“It’s been the biggest change in the shearing industry that we’ve ever seen and it’s for the better,” Mr Tippet said..