Wednesday, 01 June 2022 09:55

Winter grazing inspections underway

Written by  Staff Reporters
Gary Orr Gary Orr

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) inspectors are on the ground in Otago and Southland to support animal welfare as farmers enter the winter grazing season.

"MPI inspectors are conducting proactive visits to Otago and Southland properties to check farmers have good plans in place to manage the welfare of their livestock on crops," says MPI's director compliance services Gary Orr.

The visits will initially focus on 50 farms identified as being potentially at risk. "We'll use these first visits to check in with farmers to make sure they've made the necessary preparations. It will include taking farmers through a practical check list developed with industry and councils to help improve animal welfare outcomes.

"A well-planned winter grazing system supports good animal health and welfare. It ensures animals have sufficient and appropriate feed, access to clean water, and comfortable areas to lie down and rest.

"Some farmers will need to continue adapting their systems to ensure they have more robust back-up plans during extreme weather."

Follow-up visits will be conducted in June.

For the follow-up visits, MPI will prioritise those farms which were identified as high-risk in their first phase of visits, as well as any property where they have received complaint.

"Most farmer work hard to do the right thing and have carefully planned ahead to look after the animals," says Orr.

"Where we find evidence that an animal is suffering or is likely to suffer, we will take action. The welfare of the animal will always be our priority, so we look for practical actions to correct the issue.

"At the low end of the scale it could be the issue of a directive to move stock or provide access to stand off areas away from the feeding areas. For more serious issues we might bring in vets to make an independent assessment, require the farmer to bring in extra feed, and in the most serious cases taking a prosecution."

More like this

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.

Foot-in-mouth

OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left them wishing they had kept their mouth firmly closed.

Featured

Owl Farm marks 10 years as NZ’s first demonstration dairy farm

In 2015, the signing of a joint venture between St Peter's School, Cambridge, and Lincoln University saw the start of an exciting new chapter for Owl Farm as the first demonstration dairy farm in the North Island. Ten years on, the joint venture is still going strong.

National

Machinery & Products

New McHale terra drive axle option

Well-known for its Fusion baler wrapper combination, Irish manufacturer McHale has launched an interesting option at the recent Irish Ploughing…

Amazone unveils flagship spreader

With the price of fertiliser still significantly higher than 2024, there is an increased onus on ensuring its spread accurately at…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

The real emergency

The nutters of the green world, aided and abetted by the lamestream media, are rewriting the English language for the worse.

A very low road

OPINION: The self righteous activists at Greenpeace are copying the self-righteous lefties behind the ‘free Palestine’ movement – not surprising given…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter