Beef feedlot under fire
Meat processor Anzco has defended the conditions at its Mid-Canterbury beef feedlot against an animal welfare group which says it violates regulations.
The Animal Law Association (ALA) criticised the feedlot for breaching the code of welfare for beef which provides animals with five freedoms.
‘‘Feedlots...violate at least two of those freedoms. The cows are not provided with adequate shelter, and they cannot display normal patterns of behaviour such as grazing,’’ ALA vice-president Cassandra Kenworthy said.
She said the group did not know about the practices at all feedlots, but was basing its comments on what it had seen in the media about the Anzco operation.
The feedlot, the largest in the country, has also been a centre of attention after it was reported 44 of its cattle might be infected with the disease Mycoplasma bovis.
Anzco’s general manager livestock and agriculture Grant Bunting said the company took animal welfare responsibilities ‘‘extremely seriously. It is in our interests to make sure the animals are well looked after and are eating properly’’.
Anzco had carried out an ‘‘exhaustive’’ search before deciding to site its feedlot at Wakanui, near Ashburton in
1991.
‘‘In terms of shelter and shade... the facilities were developed to exceed the world’s best practice for finishing animals in a temperate climate. Because of the latitudinal location of the site it doesn’t experience the heat or humidity extremes.’’
‘‘Our on-site weather station is read every half an hour. The average temperature in summer doesn’t exceed 23 degrees. In addition, the feedlot is directly adjacent to the sea and the cattle benefit from the sea breeze. Consideration was given to shade at the development stage of the feedlot and the location was chosen specifically for its microclimate and sea breeze.
‘‘We have never had a heat stress event,’’ Bunting said.
Anzco employs 30 people and has approximately 14,000 cattle on site at any one time.
Bunting said the cattle were raised on grass until about 18 months old and were then finished on grain for an average of
120 days.
‘‘While we talk about the cattle being grain-finished it is in fact a composite-balanced feed developed by a nutritionist, nearly half of which is pasture and silage.’’
Kenworthy said she agreed animal welfare standards were lower in many other countries, where cattle were fed grain rather than pasture.
‘‘I know it’s common in America where they do intensive cattle farming.
‘‘They have much lower standards in terms of animal welfare than New Zealand.
‘‘But people are buying our beef because they believe they come from lovely green pastures,’’ Kenworthy said.
Beef+Lamb NZ general manager policy & advocacy Dave Harrison said the legislation simply said animals should not suffer and should be able to display normal behaviour.
‘‘It doesn’t specify how you go about that so I can’t comment about Anzco’s particular practice or whether it’s a good look.
‘‘The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is looking at the animal welfare outcome rather than how the public looks at it, the same for us,’’ Harrison said.
‘‘The organisation World Animal Protection rated New Zealand in the top four countries globally for its animal welfare measures, alongside the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland.’’
MPI said it was not aware of ALA’s complaint.
It said feedlots required high standards of husbandry and monitoring in order to safeguard animal health and welfare.
Cattle had to be able to lie down and rest comfortably; stock must be inspected by experienced stock handlers at least once daily for signs of ill-health or failure to adapt to either the feed or the environment; animals failing to adapt must be immediately removed from the situation and provided with alternative feed; and, there must be sufficient space to prevent undue competition for feed and water.
Bunting said Anzco complied with all these requirements.
Unlike in other countries, the cattle were not routinely fed hormones or antibiotics.
Cattle from the feedlot comprises 10 per cent of Anzco’s beef production and 1.5 per cent of New Zealand’s total production.
Kenworthy said her organisation had about 400 members who all had to be either practising lawyers or law students.
MPI said it was not aware of ALA’s complaint.