Animal welfare in wool: the lifecycle, the risks and the standards

What animal welfare means for wool

Animal welfare is the physical and mental state of an animal, and how it is cared for through its life. For wool, that means the whole life of a wool-producing sheep, from lambing to the end of its life, not only the moment its fleece is taken. A few terms recur throughout this guide.

• The Five Freedoms are a widely used framework for animal welfare (freedom from hunger and thirst, from discomfort, from pain, injury and disease, from fear and distress, and freedom to express normal behaviour). ZQ requires its growers to adhere to them.
• Flystrike is when flies lay their eggs in a sheep’s fleece and the larvae burrow into the skin.
• Mulesing is the removal of strips of wrinkled skin from around a sheep’s tail, to reduce the risk of flystrike.
• Tail docking is the removal of a lamb’s tail; castration is the castration of male lambs.
• Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are chemicals that stop insects developing, used to prevent flystrike.
• An animal health plan is a farm’s written plan, made with its vet, for preventing and treating disease and pests.
• Ewes are female sheep; a mob is a group of sheep managed together.

This guide is written from the Good Wool Collective’s June 2025 session on wool and animal welfare, with Dave Maslen (New Zealand Merino Company, which runs the ZQ standard), Justine Ross (a wool grower at Lake Hāwea Station, New Zealand) and Annie Nilsson, buying and production manager at a member brand, hosted by Lisa Bergstrand. It also draws on the session’s summary and, for certifications, on the Collective’s September 2026 session on certifications.