AWI directors Meredith Sheil and David Webster attended the WAFarmers Merredin zone meeting held at Narembeen last week, where Dr Sheil gave a presentation about AWI's research and development of mulesing alternatives.

During question time at the meeting, WAFarmers president Mike Norton asked Mr Webster and Dr Sheil if AWI was prepared to fully support farmers when the 2010 deadline rolled around and they were still mulesing.

"Will you get behind farmers or go to ground?" Mr Norton asked.

The response he received demonstrated that not all AWI directors are in agreement on the issue.

Dr Sheil gave a somewhat ambiguous answer and said it was not really AWI's role and they would continue to concentrate on researching and developing alternatives.

"What we're doing today, we'll be doing tomorrow," Dr Sheil said.

However Mr Webster's reply was more of a crowd pleaser.

"There is no way that we will abandon growers," Mr Webster said.

"This issue has widened now and it's not just a wool growers' problem, this is an issue for the entire sheep industry.

"I think we are obliged to protect the integrity of farmers.

"This whole thing was a disaster right from the start and it is absolutely unquestionable that the vast majority of growers cannot run livestock successfully without mulesing."

Mr Norton said the varied responses showed that there were mixed messages coming from AWI on the issue.

"David Webster gave the right answer but Dr Sheil's was a bit more coy," he said.

"We had Brenda McGahan in here on Monday and her response was much the same at Dr Sheil's.

"It's obviously a very sensitive issue and it would appear that some directors have more of an opinion on the topic than others.

"A fair percentage of farmers will continue mulesing their sheep with pain relief post 2010 because they simply have no other viable option.

"At the moment there is no real incentive for farmers to stop mulesing, it is simply a tool they need in their kit."