News & Advice

New animal welfare rules

Aug 2, 2018 | Uncategorized

New animal welfare rules are coming into force on the 1st of October this year. Some of these might require you to change the way you farm. The changes that are important for farmers of cattle are:
No tail docking of cows at all, no dehorning without local anaesthetic (disbudding calves without anaesthetic is still allowed for another year,) no castration over 6 months of age without local anaesthetic and no pulling of stuck calves at calving with any kind of vehicle. Allowing horns to become ingrown will be an offence.

A summary of the latest changes can be found at:
https://bit.ly/2v8OpnM

Sheep farmers should also be aware of the following changes:
As for cattle, ingrown horns will be tightly policed, as will uses of vehicles for traction at lambing. Mulesing (removal of the breech, tail skin folds, or tail skin wrinkles of a sheep) is also prohibited.
Castration of a sheep that is over 6 months of age may only be done under correctly placed local anaesthetic.

Another point to note is that:
Dogs transported on the open deck or open trailer of a moving motor vehicle on a public road must be secured by tether or cage, though this does not apply when farm dogs are involved in driving or managing livestock (for example, when moving livestock from one paddock to another that is down the road).

There has also been a tightening of the rules around transporting and certification, to the point that if your animal is abnormal in any way you should at least talk to your Vet before transporting it.
The complete codes of welfare can be found at:https://bit.ly/1X87jFT

If you have further questions, ask your Vet, we are here to help.

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