UK animal welfare is amongst the best – if farmers abide by the rules

How do you find the RSPCA’s portrayal of welfare on UK farms?

Firstly the RSPCA is a credible organisation, they are not in the same category as some animal rights NGOs, but they are not the right organisation to be doing a comparison between UK farming and other countries. I think this shows in the mixing of animal welfare and welfare regulations when making the comparison. As someone who has sat on the Farm Animal Welfare Council and now on the Defra Farm Animal Welfare Board for England which advises government on legislation, I know here in the UK we have very high welfare regulation and if all farmers lived up to it, then we would be amongst the best in the world.

Do you think it is fair to assume poorer welfare with housed dairy systems?

The RSPCA confuse comparing farming systems with the actual welfare of animals; it’s not about systems, it’s about management. I admit that I prefer to see cows out at grass in spring and summer too, but this is a perception and not welfare; we need to be honest about that. Here in the UK I have visited many dairy farms and some with large herds, fully housed, which have exemplary welfare, health and consequently low antibiotic usage. The public’s desire to have cows at grass is a perception not based on actual findings when assessing the welfare of animals. I don’t mind people saying they prefer cows to be grazed but it is not true that grazed cattle have higher welfare. It may look that way, but there are plenty of potential welfare issues at grass; it is about good management and not systems.

Is the predominantly outdoor calving system better for welfare in New Zealand?

You don’t do yourself any favours by running someone else down, I won’t criticize New Zealand but we all have welfare challenges. If you survey what the public want, they want cows out at grass in the summer but indoors in the winter, like themselves.

You can have challenging winters and conditions in New Zealand too (especially South Island) and if you couple this with block spring calving, you are weather dependent at that time of year and have very poor conditions for calving with far bigger challenges than if those cattle were housed.

Let’s remember that the New Zealand food sector is a master at marketing. They live and die by their marketing since exports are so important to their economy. Exporting countries like the Netherland, Irelands and New Zealand have farmers working with processors and exporters to ensure they are portrayed well and they do a very good job.

How do you find the comparisons on the UK and New Zealand sheep systems?

When you turn to sheep, New Zealand runs typically between 3000 and 7000 sheep per man on their easy care system. We should not forget how you arrive at an easy care system, but they are today operating at high standards but they are very different standards to ours in the UK. Whilst by comparison we have a very low ratio of ewes per person, we don’t just walk past an orphan lamb on most UK farms – there is far more individual care, but with more costs than you have with very large easy-care flocks.

Religious non-stun slaughter in the UK was pointed out as a reason for a lower welfare rating, can you see this changing?

We are hamstrung on improvements in these areas as there is very little appetite from the Government to make any changes to the rules surrounding non-stun slaughter. New Zealand managed to show animals were able to recover after stunning, so their pre-stun slaughter method is accepted. I do find it difficult to accept that if that is demonstrated in NZ (our laws do not allow the same stun and recovery to be demonstrated here); surely if an animal recovers post-stunning in NZ then it would do so in all countries? Why does it need to be proven again here?

Where do you see welfare improvements on farms?

In New Zealand they are now turning the same level of focus they had on improving environmental standards in dairy farming onto better welfare for all stock and they do it together as an industry very well. You only need to look at their ability to overcome the environmental challenges they faced on dairy farms to see the huge improvements being made. Now the drive for better welfare joins the priority list as they see this as a vital route to export. We need to focus on lameness in dairy which is our biggest issue, calf rearing and young-stock buildings (ventilation and warmth), adequate good quality colostrum in the right quantity at the right time is the first building block once an animal is born; this is crucial and everything is so much easier if this is done well.

Here in England we have our pathway programme and devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own schemes, which will greatly increase welfare over time. The Pathway will start as voluntary to begin with, and may stay that way if there is a good take up. It will give support for farmers to pay for vet visits, advice (a bespoke plan for each farm) and testing for BVD in cattle and anthelmintic resistance in sheep.

In an ideal world we would make the best gain by improving welfare with the poorer performers but these are farmers which are difficult to reach and difficult to change. So in reality the main focus will be on the middle 50% who are doing a good job but still have room for some improvements but catering for all farmers and giving all an opportunity to participate.

How do we know what the public wants on welfare standards?

When the public answer surveys as citizens they ask for high welfare but when they are consumers they are compromised, or choose to buy food according to price and rely on the supermarket of their choice to not only provide food safety which they all do, but also good welfare. I can see this happening more and more as food becomes more expensive, you can see it with the volume of sales of organic food which follows people’s wealth; riding up and down historically with the health of the economy.

The public are pretty clear with that they want on welfare standards but they also readily admit they don’t know much about farming. When you push them they do compromise their opinions and will contradict themselves, but it is unfair to expect the public to be knowledgeable about farming and livestock, any more than they know about other industries. This is why it is so important that are not misled when it comes to inaccurate welfare comparisons with other countries.