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AgVetLink Special issue for Veterinarians May 2006

Code of Welfare for Painful Husbandry Procedures

A new code of welfare for painful husbandry procedures carried out on farm animals was issued on 23 December 2005 by the Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton.

Recommended by NAWAC

The code was recommended to the Minister by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC). NAWAC is a ministerial committee whose role is to provide advice to the Minister on the welfare of all animals except those animals used in science. The role also includes developing codes of welfare, which set out the minimum standards of care for animals in New Zealand.

The code covers all procedures that involve physical interference with sensitive tissues that are carried out for reasons other than the treatment of injuries or diseases. As such it covers all procedures (as defined above) undertaken as part of normal farm husbandry that cause significant pain and distress.

Specific information

While the code covers all painful husbandry procedures, specific information is provided for castration, tail docking, and disbudding and dehorning only. The new provisions for castration and dehorning, which reduce the ages when these procedures can be carried out without pain relief, will replace requirements that have been in place since 1960. Tail docking of dairy cattle is discouraged, but farmers will be permitted to remove the last two-three vertebrae of the tail. Other procedures referred to in the code are covered in other codes of welfare, e.g. beak trimming of poultry, castration and tail docking of piglets.

Further procedures, such as mulesing, will be added to the code in the future. NAWAC is still reviewing this procedure and has yet to reach its final conclusions and recommendations.

NAWAC has not just given a big tick to procedures that are carried out now. The Committee recognises that the avoidance, alleviation or minimisation of pain is vital to animal welfare, and to enhancing the biology of the animal, especially growth and the immune system. On the other hand, failure to undertake some of these procedures can, in some but not all circumstances, lead to an increased risk of compromises to animal health and welfare.

NAWAC accepts that the farming community is responsible and diligent regarding animal welfare, and that such procedures are not undertaken lightly but regarded as necessary for efficient livestock management. However, NAWAC is encouraging farmers to review the reasons for carrying out painful husbandry procedures by developing management systems and breeding programmes that do not require them to be performed routinely. Breeding programmes, management systems, and technologies (e.g. polled cattle, short-tailed sheep) should be developed and used so that painful husbandry procedures can be phased out in the future.

Pain relief

NAWAC wants to see the use of pain relief become routine where animals experience significant pain and therefore supports a move to the wider use of pain relief. However, at present NAWAC is not confident that local anaesthetics and pain relief are available for all painful husbandry procedures, that they are safe, that the necessary regulatory and veterinary supports exists and that it is always economically viable.

NAWAC proposes gathering a number of parties together to discuss the wider use of pain relieving drugs within agriculture. The Committee will liaise with farming industries and producer groups, veterinarians, drug companies and regulators in order to review the code in five years’ time. The Committee’s extensive report that backs up its recommendations can be viewed at: www.biosecurity.govt.nz/animal-welfare.