Frontline biosecurity 'untouchable'
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard has reiterated that 'frontline' biosecurity services within Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will not be cut under the Government's plan to reduce the public service.
Outrage is how Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy describes his reaction to the treatment of bobby calves on Waikato dairy farms.
TV One's Sunday programme showed gross maltreatment of the calves, filmed by the animal rights group Farmwatch. It showed bobby calves left in open crates in the sun for hours, thrown onto a truck and thrown and kicked at a petfood plant.
Guy told Dairy News he's had many phone calls expressing outrage at the mistreatment and calling for the people responsible be held to account for their actions including damaging the reputation of the whole dairy industry.
"Farmers have come a long way in a short time to improve their animal welfare standards onfarm. But it takes only a couple of cowboys as we saw on that footage to damage the reputation of the NZ dairy industry," he says
Guy says he's also disappointed that SAFE is deciding to make a big thing of this in our international markets. Animals and animal products are worth about $25 billion to the NZ economy and scaremongering in our international markets is disappointing.
He says NZ is ranked first equal of 50 countries for its good treatment of animals. Under his watch the regulations and penalties for animal cruelty have been toughened. There is a five year jail penalty for wilful mistreatment of animals and a $100,000 fine for an individual and up to $500,000 for a company.
Guy says he also disappointed the animal rights people took so long to give the footage to MPI.
This view is shared by MPI's director-general Martyn Dunne. He says he understands the footage was taken over two seasons (a fact confirmed by the animal right groups) and says MPI could have acted sooner if it had the footage earlier.
He is appalled it has taken so long for MPI to get the footage and is annoyed at what he saw on television, believing the days of leaving calves in crates had long gone.
Dunne says as soon as they received the footage of the mistreatment of calves on September 14 it began an investigation. He denies claims that MPI has done nothing.
"A lot of issues have had to be examined including the legality of [them] recording the footage and the various actions that needed to be taken. We have to look at the viability of the footage itself and who's involved, so there is a multi-pronged force in place for this investigation. But before we initiate a prosecution we have to establish all the facts," he says.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
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