Big sheep face needle for shearers' safety

The Australian Workers’ Union is supporting the medical sedation of oversized sheep during shearing to reduce the risk of back injuries to shearers.

Under the plan, large sheep are being injected with a short-acting tranquilliser before shearing to make them easier for shearers to handle. The union is banning the shearing of any un-tranquillised rams weighing more than 70 kilograms.

Advanced genetic breeding techniques have increased the size of large rams to up to 170 kilograms, the AWU said. Large sheep could weigh twice as much as a shearer. Even in a sitting position, a large ram is taller than an average worker.

A rising proportion of lower back injuries among shearers could be attributed to the increasing weight and size of Australian sheep, said AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten.

"The AWU is concerned at the unnecessary risk faced by shearers juggling huge rams while holding a mechanical handpiece moving at 2,400 revolutions-per-minute. It has been demonstrated that sedation by harmless injection up to 10 minutes before shearing can relax the sheep and significantly reduce the risk of injury to shearers," Mr Shorten said.

An AWU pastoral organiser said that the sedative injections affected the sheep for about one hour and had no side effects. Farmers could administer the injections themselves after purchasing the sedative from veterinarians for as little as 50 cents per injection. Extensive use of the tranquillisers in New Zealand had revealed no ill effects.

The AWU estimates that an average farm - with between 30 and 50 rams - could implement the sedation program for as little as $25 per shearing season.