Normal practices on, for example, sending stock off farm, bringing stock in and staff awareness, will need to be reconsidered.
“So will whether we’ve got a smart farm system framework for something like M.bovis, which is nose-to-nose touching and spreading, and the ability to manage the process carefully.”
It goes back to the livestock and how animal health stages are managed.
They need to look at the supply chain traceability system and how to have confidence in it – “something NAIT was supposed to be doing and obviously hasn’t. There is going to be a load of discussion about that.”
In parallel to the M. bovis issue the NAIT system is already under review.
DairyNZ took on a leadership role during the huge outcry about bobby calves, when a video by the animal rights group Safe was made public.
“New regulations came in, but as with all regulations it was only the beginning of the challenge of how you implement onfarm.
“Our role is to take all the animal-welfare best practice for bobby calves and support farmers as strongly as possible.”
DairyNZ supplied posters to every farm dairy to show what they deemed fit-for-transport bobby calves. And the rules were changed on loading ramps for trucks.
“We went out there and found the smartest way for farmers to find the right sort of product to suit their farming system. We’ve done a lot in this way on caring for calves; it has improved dramatically and [farmers] are continuing to be vigilant about it as well.”
