But aren't things different in Australia?

Some people say "yeah, that's pretty rough, but things are better here in Australia aren't they? We don't really need to worry about stuff like that here".

Firstly, let me point out that I'm not writing this just for people in Australia. I'm writing this for people everywhere, so issues anywhere are fair game in that respect. But I'm not interested in just picking out the worst abuses and trying to make out it happens that way everywhere, because we all know it does not. Keep in mind that in a world of global trade, even if your own country is pretty good, that's no guarantee that products on your supermarket shelves haven't still come from somewhere that has major problems. More on this issue later.

The US in particular is almost a poster-child for worst-practice when it comes to animal abuse issues on farms, as well as environmental destruction/mismanagement. But that doesn't mean they're on their own. Australian feedlots may well be required to operate to a higher environmental standard than in the US, and may have tighter restrictions on feeding animal waste to other animals, but we're still just as bad in terms of problems such giving our livestock toxic food in the form of grains, which is a core practice here as well. Australian feedlots supply 40-50% of the meat you'll find in your supermarket, so don't kid yourself by thinking that we aren't setting ourselves up for problems too, and that we don't have a wide range of abuses that are accepted standard industry practice.

One thing in particular that I'll have more to say about later is mulesing, and that's something that Australia almost seems to be proud of. But will you still feel that way when you know what mulesing really is and how it's really done here? Firstly, sheep are very much unsuited to the Australian climate and environment to be begin with, so we've got environmental issues already on that score. But there are significant health and welfare problems too. Our merino sheep have been selectively bred to have more folds of flesh, so they will produce more wool - but this includes folds all over their bodies, including around their buttocks. Flies are attracted to the faeces and urine that sticks to the wool, and flystrike can result - a frequently fatal, and always excrutiating, affliction. And here's the problem: flystrike can be treated and avoided quite simply by proper management techniques, and the industry doesn't deny this. However, it costs money to do so, and they decided that a better option was (without using ANY anaesthetic at all) to cut off half the sheep's arse (and occasionally part of the vagina also by accident) and then just leave them to heal and get over it on their own. That's mulesing. They don't do it for animal welfare, they do it for economics, because they make more money if production costs are lower. Can you honestly say that such practices are acceptable when they aren't even necessary in the first place? I certainly can't.