Cruel and illegal practices are not in any way condoned or accepted by the industry as part of dairy farming, says DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle.
He says that while formal figures are not yet available, there is anecdotal evidence of significant improvement over the past season in the numbers of calves that are picked up fit for transport.
Yet incidents of abuse do still occur as evident in the video released yesterday by Farmwatch showing some unacceptable dragging of calves by farmers, he says. He underscores though that the vast majority of farmers care about their animals and are committed to farming to very high standards.
“Last year we saw footage of abhorrent treatment and cruelty of calves at a pet food processing plant. Today’s footage of calves being passed and loaded on to trucks is nothing like that footage, and cannot and should not be compared.”
He points out that while some of the handling is rougher than Dairy NZ would condone, the workers appear to be following the accepted practice of loading calves by rolling them rear end first. “Despite perception, this is the best way to prevent calves from stepping back out of the truck and causing themselves harm.”
Mackle adds that the new regulations coming into effect in August 2017 address this by requiring farmers to have loading platforms, thereby reducing the requirement to lift.
“Many farmers have already taken steps to put loading facilities in place well ahead of the regulations,” he says.
In view of this Dairy NZ has acknowledged the significant amount of work the sector, and especially the farmers themselves, have done to ensure improvements. The organisation works closely with the wider industry in the management of bobby calves, including the transport sector, meat processors, dairy companies, Federated Farmers and the Ministry of Primary Industries.
