Farm working dogs in New Zealand. 11. The Law and your Dog

-->  By Dr Clive Dalton

The law

Ownership of a working dog carries with it some clearly-defined legal responsibilities under current legislation.  Your main responsibilities are to:

·      Make sure a dog is registered and that the certificate is in a secure place and readily available.

·      Have collars, discs, or tags for all dogs and make sure they wear them at all times.

·      Notify any change of address, either permanent or temporary if you move, or if you sell the dog.

·      Ensure discs or labels are not tampered with.

·      Present all dogs for treatment for hydatids as required.

·      Keep dogs under control at all times.

·      Make certain dogs are well housed.

·      Ensure dogs are well fed.

The dog is also covered under legislation that states that an animal must be provided with adequate food, water, and shelter, and given adequate exercise.  Ill-treating your dog or cruelly ill-treating it is an offence under the law.

Registration

All dogs must be registered annually with a "territorial authority" such as a borough council, county council, district council or city council, or a hydatids and dog control authority acting on behalf of these.  All farm dogs over 3 months of age must be registered. 

The fees vary with each territorial authority and some charge lower fees for working dogs and neutered dogs.  You are not allowed to shop round for the cheapest authority - you register your dog where you live! 

Proof of ownership, other than the owner's certificate is the label or disc that the dog should wear at all times.  This shows:

·      The territorial authority where the dog is registered.

·      Year of registration, also shown by the colour of the tag.

·      The dog's ownership number.

New collars can be purchased from the authority.  Old ones can be used provided the current label or tag is firmly attached.  If a collar or disc is lost, you can apply to the authority for a replacement and you'll have to pay for it. 

Remember that if a dog is found without a collar, it will be "deemed as unregistered" until you can prove the contrary.

Selling a dog

When selling a dog, if it's under 3 months of age, there is no obligation to register it before sale.  If you sell the dog when over 3 months of age you must notify the territorial authority in writing within 14 days that the dog has been sold.  There's no fee charged for change of ownership. 

When selling a dog you must:

·      Give the new owner a current treatment certificate showing that the dog has been treated for hydatids in the last 42 days.

·      Provide the authority with the name and address of the new owner and the address where the dog in normally kept.

Buying a dog

If you buy a dog under 3 months of age, the vendor doesn't have to produce a hydatids treatment certificate.  As a new owner you must:

·      Register the dog before it's 3 months old

·      If over 3 months old, get the original owner to provide a certificate to show the dog has been treated for hydatids in the last 42 days.

·      Notify the territorial authority in writing within 14 days of purchase the name of the authority the dog came from.

Moving with your dog

If you move within the same territorial authority, then notify the territorial authority of your address change, in writing, within 14 days .

If you move to a new authority, notify them in writing within 6 weeks of moving where the dog came from.   Then inform the authority you have just left that you've moved, and give them the new address where the dog is kept.  It would pay to do this in writing too.

These two situations are important for stockpersons doing casual work and for those having dogs on trial before purchase.  It's also important for people traveling outside their district to always carry their dogs' hydatids treatment certificate. It should show that treatment has been carried out within the last 42 days.

Control of dogs

This part of the act is important for farm dogs.  It covers the fact that dogs must be kept under control at all times.  If a dog is considered to be out of control, then a number of things can happen.  Important examples are:

·      A Dog Control Officer can impound it.

·      The occupier of the land on which the dog is found can impound it.

·      If the dog is in a public place from which dogs are prohibited, anyone can seize the dog, or arrange for it to be seized and impounded.

·      Anyone can impound a dog (or dogs) if they consider it to be causing distress, annoyance, and damage to property other than the owners.

The occupier of land where a dog causes a nuisance can either return the dog to its owner or hand it over to a Dog Control Officer or Dog Ranger.

Barking dogs

If a barking dog has been reported to a Dog Control Officer or Dog Ranger, and there are reasonable grounds to believe that its barking constitutes a nuisance, an officer or ranger can:

·      Enter the land or premises (other than a dwelling house) at any reasonable time to inspect the conditions under which the dog is kept.

·      Give the owner a written notice requiring him/her to abate the nuisance or remove the dog.  The owner may object within 7 days.

Disqualification from ownership

A territorial authority may apply to a court to disqualify a person from owning a dog if convicted of a range of listed offences in the legislation.

Dogs attacking people or livestock or rushing at vehicles

Anyone who sees a dog attack stock or poultry, or who is themselves attacked, can either seize the dog or destroy it immediately.  Note that police dogs are exempt!  Once you have seized the dog, you must hand it over to its owner or to a Dog Control Officer or Ranger.

If you cannot catch the dog, you may call a police officer who can shoot it.  It need not be caught in the act for this to happen, but the office must have reasonable ground for believing the attacks took place.

The police officer is empowered to destroy the dog only if he/she is unable to seize it.

Dangerous dogs at large

It is an offence for owners of a dangerous dog to have it at large without a suitable muzzle.  A "dangerous dog" is one that has attacked people, stock, poultry or property of any kind.  If you keep it in a vehicle or cage, then this is acceptable.

Destroying dangerous dogs

A court can order the owner of a dangerous dog either to keep it under proper restraint or make an order for it to be destroyed.

Seizure or destruction of a dog found at large among livestock

If a dog is found running at large among livestock or poultry, the owner may either seize a dog or destroy it.  Owners can also request their "agent", a constable, a Dog Control Officer or Ranger to do this on their behalf.

If seized the dog must be returned to its owner or delivered into the custody of a Dog Control Officer or Ranger.

Dogs seen worrying livestock

If a dog has been seen worrying livestock of poultry, the owner may make a complaint to the District Court.  The court as a result may make an order of restraint or an order to destroy the dog.

Liability of the owner for damage

The owner of a dog is liable for all damage done by the animal.

Dog control bylaws

A territorial authority can make bylaws for a range of purposes.  Those of interest to farm dog owners are:

·      Prescribing minimum standards for accommodation of dogs.

·      Limiting the number of dogs kept on land or premises.

·      Requiring dogs to be tied up during the hours of darkness.

·      Requiring owners to remove faeces left in public places or other people's land.

·      Requiring a bitch to be confined but given adequate exercise.

·      Impounding dogs found at large.

Wounding of dogs

If you wound a dog while trying to shoot it, you are under no criminal or civil liability for injury to the dog or for its death.  However, it's incumbent on you to take all reasonable steps to terminate the animal's suffering.

Offences relating to offal and untreated meat

It is an offence to:

·      Own a dog infected with hydatids or that has been infected twice in the last 12 months.  Your only defence will be to show you took all reasonable steps to prevent the second infection.

·      Feed a dog raw offal or raw sheep or goat meat.

·      Sell offal or untreated sheep or goat meat for feeding to dogs.

·      Leave the carcasses of any sheep, cattle, horse, deer, goat or swine to lie in the open accessible to dogs.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - why keep sheep?

Sheep, husbandry, decisions, why keep sheep, your legal responsibilities

By Dr Clive Dalton


Sheep are very good at dividing people into two distinct groups – those who love sheep and those who hate them. The sheep haters have all heard stories about what sheep can die of, and the work involved in their care so they decide to run cattle instead! So right now you’d better decide which group you want to join using the checklist below. You can’t “half like” sheep and neglect them if you want a successful enterprise.

Points for sheep

• Sheep can be very likeable animals and are usually non-threatening.
• They make great companions and can soon learn to eat your kitchen waste.
• They are small and relatively easy to handle.
• They suit most properties and will graze steep areas where cattle won’t go or cause erosion.
• They are ideal animals to graze small areas like orchards or driveways.
• Their faeces are much more environmentally friendly than cattle.
• Sheep don’t pug paddocks in wet weather the way cattle do.
• Pastures grazed by sheep have a denser sward with fewer bare areas where weeds grow as in cattle pastures.
• A few sheep can keep a family self sufficient in meat and wool.
• Sheep can easily be integrated and graze with other stock on the farm.
• Sheep require much less capital to buy and maintain than cattle.
• The world demand for sheep meat is currently good.
  

Points against sheep

• They need to be well looked after if you want good production from them.
• They need good fences to keep them where you last put them.
• If you have any number of sheep, you’ll need yards and equipment to handle them.
• Sheep require shearing at least once a year but the current return from wool is low, and many farmers are concerned that if it keeps dropping, returns won’t cover the shearing and handling costs.
• Their hooves grow and may need trimming.
• Sheep on lush pastures need dagging and crutching to keep their rear ends clean and avoid flystrike.
• Stray dogs, especially near urban areas, are a threat to sheep.
• Sheep are prone to a long list of diseases if they are neglected.
  

Your legal responsibilities
If you keep sheep you are bound by the Animal Welfare Act 1999. The details of good practice under this law are set out in a number of animal welfare codes that you should be aware of. They cover sheep farming, animals transported within New Zealand, emergency slaughter of farm livestock, and animals at saleyards (see Appendix 1).

The Five Freedoms
Also under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, the person responsible for the care of an animal is legally bound to provide it with “the Five Freedoms”. These are:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst
• Freedom from discomfort
• Freedom from pain, injury and disease
• Freedom from fear and distress
• Freedom to express “normal” behaviour
  

The first four freedoms are all very straightforward and it’s only the fifth one where people start to worry about the definitions of what is “normal” behaviour, especially when you consider what happened when man domesticated sheep and the way we farm them today.

The domestic contract
To really understand the 5th freedom, you have to think of mankind and the sheep writing a contract – what the late Dr Ron Kilgour called “the domestic contract. The sheep cannot negotiate its side of the contract so man has to do it for the sheep as well as his own. So when you look at some of today’s sheep husbandry practices, you may rightly question if the sheep got a fair deal. Think for example about sea transport and feedlotting.

We must constantly be checking and updating this agreement with the sheep to make sure that both man and the sheep end up with a reasonable compromise. It can only ever be a compromise. It’s up to the human to make sure it’s a fair one.

Action on the farm
So on the farm – remember your sheep are legally entitled to the 5 Freedoms and failing to provide these can result in large fines and imprisonment. We really have to take this seriously because as an exporting country, our competitors are watching us all the time, hoping an issue will arise that they can exploit and restrict or stop our trade.

To our “clean and green” image we must now add the word “humane” and show the world that this is our business and not just public relations spin.

Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Meat; Grading; Slaughter; Home kill

Meat from sheep: the law; grading; slaughter; home killing

By Dr Clive Dalton

Sheep meat image problem
Beef producers are fortunate as regardless of age, their animals all produce “beef”. Sadly for sheep farmers where we don’t talk about “sheep meat” as a generic term, there are three products to market - lamb, hogget and mutton.

• Lamb poses no problem as it already has a “young” image that is easily embellished by adding words like “fresh, spring, Canterbury and New Zealand”.
  
• But what about hogget and mutton? Hogget is hidden under “lamb” (see glossary), but so far nobody has come up with an attractive marketing name to improve the image of mutton.
  
• Focus groups of shoppers see mutton as being old, frozen, tough and worst of all – fat! This is unfortunate, as now with modern processing, some very high quality lean meat cuts are produced from carcasses of older sheep.
• The main messages coming back from consumers are that they don’t want fat for health reasons.
• And they don’t want large “joints” of meat – the traditional Sunday roast that Granny cooked has gone. This is the age of small ovens and convenience foods for busy people so now 95% of lamb is cut to specification and exported packaged, labeled and ready for cooking.
  

Meat and the law
After over 100 years in the meat exporting business, a mass of legislation has grown up in New Zealand to protect producers, processors and exporters, so farmers need to be aware of this fact and where necessary comply with it. Remember the customer is always right! So there is:

• The Meat Act 1981
• The Biosecurity Act 1993
• The Animals Product Act 1999
• The Biosecurity (Ruminant Protein) Regulations 1999
• The Biosecurity (Animal Identification Systems) Regulations 1999
  

When are animals ready for slaughter?
This is always a big concern and can be tricky because of the sheep Carcass Classification or Grading System used in New Zealand, and you would be wise to become familiar with it and seek good advice before selling anything. Here are some basic points:

• The grading system places carcasses with similar characteristics into groups or classes.
• It is designed to pay farmers for what the meat company considers the export market wants, and not pay (or even penalise) them for what is not wanted such as over-fat animals.
• It allows meat to be purchased sight-unseen, and provides a channel for consumer requirements to get back to producers so they can change things if needed.
  

Meat fit for human consumption

• After slaughter and processing, every sheep carcass whether for export or the domestic market is checked by a meat inspector from “Asure (New Zealand) Ltd” on behalf of the New Zealand government by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, to make sure it is fit for human consumption.
  
• Any carcass that fails to pass inspection is condemned and rendered down for blood and bone fertiliser.
• After passing inspection, the carcass is weighed while still warm, and graded by a meat grader employed by the meat company and regularly audited by AusMeat.

Lambs off to meat works. Careful handling to avoid bruising and a stress-free journey is important to maximise returns.

Meat grading

• Farmers are paid on carcass weight and grade.
• There are two weights recorded at the meat plant – hot carcass weight (HCW) and cold carcass weight (CCW) after a period in the chiller. Farmers are paid on HCW recorded straight after dressing and CCW is used when export meat is sold.
• Meat graders from the meat company then assesses the maturity, sex, fat cover and muscling of the carcass.
• Fat is assessed by the “GR measurement” and is the fat depth taken at the 12th rib and 11cm from the mid line of the carcass with a sharpened ruler pushed into the meat. In other major meat exporting countries they use an electronic probe to assess fat and meat content which was invented in New Zealand but not used here. The reasons remain a mystery!
• There are 7 fat classes for lamb from devoid of fat at one end, to excessive at the other which has to be trimmed (with added expense) before export. Carcasses that are too thin for export and damaged go into a “manufacturing” grade.
• The general rule is that as carcass weights go up, then so does fat content. The search is always on for animals that confound this rule.
• Beta lamb is a special class of milk-fed lamb less than 7.5kg carcass which is moderately-to-well muscled with an even but not excess fat cover.
• Hoggets. There is a separate “hogget” grade (defined by teeth eruption) for carcasses based on weight and fat cover.
• Rams. There is only one class covering all weight ranges with no GR specifications.
• Muscling is only assessed on a limited range of sheep carcasses.
  

Typical meat schedule prices
Here’s an example of a typical Meat Schedule published by meat companies or available from independent websites, for a particular week for North Island lamb for the Y low-fat grade and the MX1 mutton grade. For South Island stock, take off $1.50/head/lamb.



Key points from the table

• It lets you see what prices are this particular week, and how they have changed.
• The skill is to predict what’s going to happen in the weeks ahead and whether you should buy or sell, taking into account the weather, pasture growth, what’s happening in the US and European economies, changes in the exchange rate, saleyard rumour and downright lies!
  
• There’s a challenge for a smart young IT person to write some software for a pocket PC to predict all this– but it would take a lot of the fun out of it.
  

When to sell?

• This is the hard part or the challenging part - depending on your attitude.
• So knowing all the different criteria involved in each grade, you now have to predict which particular combination will make most return.
• A typical decision would be whether to sell on this week’s schedule, or by looking at recent schedule trends, reading market reports and using stock agent or saleyard information, hang on for a bit longer.
• If you do this, the stock will put on more weight for which you will get paid, but it may also mean they get fatter and could even get overfat and grade T where excess fat has to be trimmed off before export and you would get less per kg.
• But the penalty per kg may not have much effect if you have produced many more kg of carcass. Remember the extra time on the farm and the extra feed eaten would have to be taken into account too.
• So can you see why it would be wise to consult with a meat company meat buyer or farm consultant to seek guidance on all this. It’s very much like the stocks and share market.
  

Killing out or dressing percentage

• The meat company pays you for the weight of the carcass, so now comes the question of how much of the live animal you sent to the meat plant ended up as a carcass.
• From the newly-killed sheep the following are removed or trimmed:
• Pelt
• Head including tongue
• Feet
• Internal organs including all digestive, respiratory, excretory and reproductive organs.
• Mammary system and cods (udder and scrotum)
• Skirts both thick and thin (abdominal wall)
• Tail
• Aorta – all tissue
• Neck trim – removed with pluck (trachea and lungs) and any tissue contaminated by blood or ingesta.
• So you are left with the weight of the animal after its carcass has been “dressed”.
• The terms Killing Out Percentage (KO%) or Dressing Percentage are used and are calculated by dividing the hot carcass weight by the live weight and multiplying this by 100 over 1.
  

[(Hot carcass weight)/(Live weight without fasting)] x [100/1]

• If you want to predict the HCW from liveweight before the animal leaves the farm, use this formula:

• HCW = (Liveweight kg x 0.473 – 1.92) x 1.045

The standard is taken as 43% for a 13.5kg hot carcass.
Here’s a ready reckoner table to help solve this mystery:

• It’s important to remember that if you weigh stock before they leave the farm, they will vary greatly in the amount of “fill’ or gut contents they have, and this may come as a big surprise when you see the KO%.
  
• The longer you empty stock out by leaving them on a bare paddock or yard before slaughter, the less the loss will be. See table below for the factors that can affect KO%.

Warning
These are broad estimates of minimal likely factors which may not all act independently. So watch you don’t double count them, e.g. in dry seasons light lambs may be leaner and also have full fleeces.

• Meat company buyers who come to your farm are very experienced at looking at live animals and predicting their carcass weight. However, having an on-farm live weight is a great help for both them and yourself, and at least reassures you that you are not being ripped off (if you dared to doubt the buyer!).
• The killing sheets from the meat company give you the final true picture including the killing charges. This is always interesting but sometimes frustrating to see on these sheets what defects like bruising and old injection abscesses may have cost you, especially if these were not of your doing!
  

Presentation of sheep for slaughter

• Again because of legal requirements, meat companies have strict standards about stock accepted for slaughter, so they meet the very strict standards set by the overseas markets. As a result the companies require an “Animal Status Declaration” (ASD) form similar to that required for sheep sold at the saleyards or transferred between owners after January 1 2006.
• So in summary:
• One form travels with the stock from the old to the new owner.
• The new owner keeps the form as they own the animals plus 1 year.
• One form is retained by the seller or supplier. It must be kept for 1 year.
• One copy is kept by the organising agent.
• The copy received by the processor must be kept for 4 years.
• If you have any pangs of frustration when filling this in, just remember we have no choice as sheep farmers are in the food business, and red meat is a health food. You’ve got to believe it!
• The question asking if the animals were born on your property and if not have you had them for 60 days or more is very important here. If you have just purchased the stock, you should have obtained an Animal Status Declaration form from the previous owner.
• If you didn’t, then “the worst case situation” applies which means the meat company cannot slaughter them for a 60-day withholding period. This can cost you extra feed and they may also get overfat.
  

Presentation grades
Meat companies also have two or three “presentation grades” for acceptance of stock for slaughter. Here are the key issues on these:

• Dags and dirt. Sheep should have no dags and have clean fleeces. Dags are a big health and hygiene hazard.
• Emptied out. Sheep should be emptied out (in yards or on a bare paddock) for a minimum of 4 hours to reduce the risk of contamination with faeces which can then get on the wool and then the carcass when the pelt is removed.
• Wool blind. Sheep should be able to see so may need to be eye-wigged before acceptance at the meat plant.
• Free of distress and injury. Distress caused by transport and injury can affect meat quality.
• Washing. Stock should be clean and free from dirt prior to slaughter and if they are not, then the meat company will have to wash them. Hopefully they will only require one wash but they can be washed twice if necessary. Then they have to be given time to dry prior to slaughter and this is also stressful for the sheep.
• Wool length. Wool should not be more than 4cm long which equates to approximately 0.7kg. Short wool is preferred in winter as it dries more quickly.
  

Black fibres
This is an interesting processing problem which arises because black sheep have black fibres! Then after processing if any of these black or coloured fibres have adhered to the carcass –they can be easily seen whereas stray white fibres cannot.

So be aware of this if you keep pigmented sheep. It’s still a problem but nothing like what it used to be, thanks to big improvements in processing equipment.

Identifying sheep before sending to the works
When you send sheep for slaughter to a meat plant, it’s important for everyone that they are clearly identified to save time and reduce cost. Here’s the basis of some acceptable and well-understood codes used by farmers and processors. The basis of it is to use standard coloured raddle on standard parts of the sheep shown in the table below.

You can use any combination of these such as BH for blue head and YR for yellow rump. If you have different mobs, use contrasting colours and not yellow and orange for example. Put enough raddle on to last, but not too much as it has to be scoured out of the wool after slaughter.

Transporting sheep to slaughter
Prime lambs for slaughter are a quality export product so remember the following:

• At least a week before transport, draft out stock for slaughter into their new groups to give them time to settle and sort out their new social order.
• This is to avoid stress which affects the pH of the meat, which then reduces shelf life when sold as a higher-value chilled product in supermarkets rather than just frozen.
• Ideally meat should have a pH of around 5.5 and it’s acceptable up to 5.8. This will produce good red meat that will be excellent to eat. In a range from 5.8 to 6.2, the meat begins to be unacceptable and tough. Above 6.2 and up to pH of 7.0, the meat will be relatively tender but will go a dark colour and will spoil quickly and have little flavour on cooking. Dark meat when displayed in a supermarket has little customer appeal and shoppers assume it is “going off”.
• After sorting or any vet treatment, put stock on good pasture to build up their glycogen levels.
• On the day of transport, muster them quietly and let them empty out on a bare paddock or yard with water for at least 8 hours without disturbance. This will keep them cleaner in the truck and reduce the effluent that may contaminate the highway.
• If the transporter is late - don’t let your stock be sacrificed by rushing them, in a bid to make up lost time.
• Load stock quietly without sticks or dogs and only minimal use of an electric probe if needed. Check for any protruding nails or bolts that will damage pelts and bruise meat when loading and fix these before the truck arrives.
• Ensure the loading ramp is safe and the truck can back up squarely to it, leaving no gap for legs to get down and cause injury so they cannot be sent for slaughter.
• By law, animals must be able to take their full weight on all four feet to be acceptable for transport. Any animal that cannot will require a veterinary certificate before the truck operator or meat works will accept it.
• A meat processing plant does not accept defective stock or what used to be known as “mercy kills” such as stock with broken legs. Such animals now have to go for pet food.
• All stock must also be accompanied by the correct documentation before the truck driver will pick them up.
• Only use reliable transport operators who will give your stock a quiet ride to the meat plant. If transport staff are rough with your stock, don’t use them again and tell the company why. You have been preparing a high quality product for perhaps 4-12 months and to have it ruined by poor handling on its last day is unacceptable.
• Make sure the truck is clean before your stock are loaded - it is supposed to be.
  

Home killing on the farm

• It’s very important to have your home killing done by a licensed “home kill service provider” Operators are required to be licensed under the Animal Products Act 1999 and can provide their service on their own licensed premises or on your property.
  
• The welfare standards for home killing must conform to those given under the Animal Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) Code of Welfare 2006.
• Home killing of livestock is subject to legal restrictions because of concerns that home-killed meat (which has not been inspected by an approved government inspector in a licensed slaughtering facility) may get into the export meat trade and threaten market standards.
• Our export markets view this as a risk, and farmers who kill sheep for home consumption need to fully appreciate this. The risk is not so much with those who understand and stick to the law, it’s the illegal operators who are the worry and those who are tempted to buy “cheap meat”, some of which is of very suspect origin and without doubt is a human health risk.
• “Home kill” is the slaughtering and butchering of your own animals, either by yourself or by a licensed home-kill butcher for your own consumption which includes your family and household.
• A “family” normally includes parents, children and grandparents and does not include an extended family living elsewhere.
• A “household” are the normal occupants of a house and does not include an institution or tourist accommodation.
• Only animal owners who are actively engaged in the day-to-day maintenance of an animal, or keep animals of the same kind for a period of 28 days, may use home kill. In other words – someone making a serious attempt to farm them and not just dealing in stock.
• Home killed meat cannot be sold, raffled, or bartered for goods or services. It would not even be wise to give it away.
• You can feed home kill meat to your staff if they are regular employees, and they can feed it to their families. You cannot feed casual workers or contractors or your vet, accountant or bank manager, and you cannot feed home kill to paying guests.
• It’s very important to use a home kill butcher with a good reputation for producing top meat. A freezer full of tough meat is not a good prospect, nor is the nagging concern that you may think you didn’t get all your own sheep back from the butcher!
• It is very important to realise that under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 all animals must be slaughtered in a humane way without causing any pain or stress to them or their flock mates.
• Some operators will bury the offal on your farm or will take it away for disposal in an approved site. This will be part of the charge.
• Anyone offering home-kill services is required to be listed under the Animal Products Act 1999 as a “homekill service provider”. They can provide their service at their own licensed home-kill premises or on the owner’s property. The welfare standards for home kill animals should conform with those given under the Animal Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) Code of Welfare 2006.
• Check with MAF for the latest regulations and for regulations to provide meat for Marae and ethnic and religious groups.
• Realise the potential hazards with home killing of meat. You would do well to consider sending a sheep off the farm to a licensed slaughter facility to be killed and processed. Then at least you have no human safety concerns, animal stress or food safety issues to be concerned about.
• If you kill your own sheep – see information on euthanasia and slaughtering.
• Before you fill the freezer, check to make sure it’s reaching the correct temperature and tape the plugs into the socket. Also lay some rat poison near it as they love the plastic on the cable and you don’t want to come back from holiday and find a freezer full of nice pink water with your meat floating in it!
  

Curing sheep skins
If you want to cure a sheepskin, see the recommended further reading list for a good recent reference. (Martin 2004).

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Animal behaviour and welfare: General

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR AND WELFARE: PART 2

The 3 Rs; The 5 Freedoms: Law: Normal behaviour: Animal rights: Stress & distress
By Dr Clive Dalton

The three R's

• The history of animals used in research and teaching is littered with horror stories and images from the past, and this has led to a drive to reduce animal use - by what is called the three R‘s.
  
• They are Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. Research is now charged with a range of things to meet these three R‘s- for example:
• Using demonstrations instead of hands-on work with animals.
• Using models instead of real animal tissues.
• Using computer simulation.
• Using tissue culture.
• Using closed circuit television to show a procedure to more students.
  

The Animal Welfare Act 1999

• The updating of the Animal Welfare Act in 1999 gave a wider definition of "the animal" which now covers all vertebrates i.e. fish and the invertebrate crayfish.
  
• There was a big change in emphasis from "prosecution" to "education" and the word "cruelty" was removed and "distress' given emphasis.
• Codes of Recommendation and Minimum Standards" were produced to give the details relevant for each species of animal (e.g. cattle, sheep, bobby calves) and for painful manipulations (e.g. removing antler velvet from stags).
• A key factor in the Act was the emphasis given to the "five freedoms" which are now recognised internationally as the foundation of all animal welfare thinking. And the other big emphasis was to base the animal's needs on what was "good practice and scientific knowledge".
• Professor Brambell in UK in 1967 developed the five freedoms and you'll find them written in various orders in different publications. The order below is written to make them easier to remember by learning the code letters.
  

The five freedoms:

• 1. Freedom from hunger and thirst (HT)
• 2. Freedom from discomfort (D)
• 3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease (PID)
• 4. Freedom from fear and distress (FD)
• 5. Freedom to express "normal" behaviour (NB)
  

What is "normal" behaviour?

• This can be a very contentious issue and it's often easier to define what "abnormal" behaviour is. There's room for a lot of personal opinion both informed and not informed, and a great deal of anthropomorphism (see later).
  
• But there is no doubt that normal behaviour has got to be the baseline for decision making.
  

General needs for normal behaviour:

• Social contact
• Food and water
• Warmth
• Ventilation
• Space
• Opportunities to play
• Opportunity for courtship and mating
  

Speciesism

• This is a term coined by UK Animal Rights campaigner Richard Ryder and is a concept developed by Professor Peter Singer from Monash University in Victoria in his book "Animal Liberation".
• It is defined as "A prejudice or attitude of bias toward the interests of members of one's own species and against those members of other species". In practice it means you have to treat all animals using the same standards.
  
• The best example are animals classed as "vermin" as they must be given the same humane treatment (e.g. when exterminating them) as farm animals and pets.

Genetics and Environment - nature versus nurture

• When investigating an animal behaviour problem, you will regularly be faced with the question - is the problem caused by the animal's genetic makeup, the environment in which it was reared and managed, or a bit of both? Usually it's the latter - a bit of both.
  
• We know the effect of the environment (e.g. early socialisation, feeding etc) is massive on the final outcome, but recent work from twin studied shows just how strong genetics are.
  
• A good example is dog breeds selected for aggression - but are very friendly to their owners who swear they would never attack anyone! Their killer genes come out when their owners are not present and these dogs think that they or their territory are being threatened.
• Professor Gluckman in Auckland is leading a team studying EPIGENETICS where they have found that the many genes controlling a trait in humans like early growth and development, do not so much as determine what is expressed, as allow for a range of possibilities determined by the environment experienced.
  
• Because the environment is always changing, the hallmark of biological systems is their ability to cope with these changes.
• They do this by switches which can turn the genes finally expressed either ON or OFF depending on environmental factors with most influence during embryonic, foetal and early infant life by environmental factors such as maternal health, nutrition and stress. Epigenetics is studying how these switches work.
  

Anthropomorphism

• This is where you use human emotions and feelings to describe the behaviour of animals. Is it not a good thing if it ends up providing animals with what you think they would like if you were in their place?
  
• But it can be dangerous from a professional viewpoint and there is the risk of coming to a wrong conclusion over issues when being anthropomorphic and forgetting that animals are animals.
  
• Problems experienced by dog owners who forget that their dogs are dogs are a prime example. Both they and their dogs are confused!

Animals Rights - Do animals have rights?

• This is a common and valid quesiton.
  
• The moral position argues that animals have certain rights the same way humans have rights, and these must not be broken. The end result of this is that animals should never be exploited for human gain.
• Another view is that animals cannot claim the same rights as humans, but they have the right to be treated well by those who tend them. In practical terms they have the right to the Five Freedoms. You can see the dangers of getting anthropomorphic over this question.

Do animals have souls?

• You may also have to face the question.
  
• Your response will depend greatly on your religious views or lack of them.
  
• If you believe animals do have souls, you could then argue that they do have rights similar to humans.
  
• The great apes for example have recently experienced an enormous improved change in human attitudes to their rights, with DNA studies confirming their similarity to humans.
• So if they are that near to humans, do they have souls too?
• The animal cremation services get a lot of business from people who believe their pets have souls and deserves the same dignity that humans have a right to.
  

Stress and distress

• Some "stress" is valuable for good performance and survival, but too much turns into "distress" which has a bad effect on the animal.
  
• Behaviourists don't like the word stress and prefer distress. This is probably a bit academic but it's due to concern over definitions.
  
• From a practical point of view what stress does is to increase the "arousal" of the animal. Again some stress is good (e.g. to move stock) and some is bad (e.g. when they panic and bolt).

Arousal - things that increase it

• Isolation from mates or members of same species.
• Separation from owner.
• Decrease personal space.
• Lack of food and water.
• No shade or shelter.
• Novelty - something strange in the environment.
• Threats - something seen as a threat (eg human and animal).
• Aversive things - eg electric shocks.
• Noise - high pitched.
• High light intensity - especially poultry.
• Increased cold - especially pigs.
  

Arousal - things that decrease it?

• Provide company.
• Increase personal space.
• Provide plenty of food and water.
• A warm well-ventilated environment.
• Provide shade and shelter.
• Low frequently sound.
• Talk to the animals - in low tones.
• Low light levels.
• Change colour of light.
• Remove aversions and perceived threats.
  

Signs of fear in animals

• Vigorous tail flicking
  
• Spasmodic body shivering
• Head shaking
• Eyelid flickering
• Salivating
• Head retraction
• Diarrhoea/urinating
  
• Eye closure
• Nostril flaring
  
• White's of eyes showing
  

Cost of excess arousal - stress
This is what can result from unduly stressing animals:

• Poor stock performance.
• Increased ACC levies.
• Greater disease incidence.
• Deaths and family trauma.
• Accidents to staff - major and minor.
• Damage to property.
• Staff time off work and cost of replacement.
• Risk of fines from OSH
  

Social organisation in animals
Understanding the social behavior of animals is vital in problem solving. Here are some general principles - too often taken for granted:

• Animals are social creatures - they enjoy and may crave for the company of their own kind.
• Group living has big advantages for the animal:
• It allows protection against predators - allows group defence
• Provides cooperation in food gathering.
• Mates are easier to find.
• Allows synchrony of mating, birth and rearing of offspring.
• Solitary living has advantages when food is very scarce.
• Animals have rules - they help survival and peace in the group.
• Humans need to remember this! They cause the problem by confusing the rules.
• Animals need space - their own private space.
• They need mental stimulation - and the group provides this.
• They like predictability - but sometimes they thrive on unpredictability (eg the chance of a fight for the top position).
• At certain times of the year males are solitary.
• When males are reared or farmed in groups they can be homosexual and may need to learn to live and mate with females.

Hierarchies

• Animals organise their social behaviour into hierarchies.
• We talk about the "peck order" in birds, the "bunt order" in cattle, because this is the way they sort themselves out.
• These hierarchies can be stable or they can be fluid - depending on a whole lot of things:
• Food supply - if plenty of food, there's no need to fight.
• Size - a good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un.
• Sexual prowess - testosterone is a guaranteed winner.
• Cunning - the young males who fools the old male.
• Ego - my harem's bigger than yours.
• Top of the hierarchy is an alpha male who at least thinks he's the boss.
• In many cases an alpha female below him is the real boss - but she lets him act as if he was the leader.
• The alpha female has enormous power (especially over the young males) and will fight hard to keep her status.
• It's in the interest of the alpha male to make sure she keeps her job, so he will keep his too.
• His worry is when she takes a dislike to him and sees a better prospect.
• There is a constant state of young males looking for the inside chance to be alpha male.
• Fights that cause injury or death are against the survival of the group and are generally avoided. But when the issue is really important with genetic and survival implications - fights to the death if necessary will take place.
  

Are animals intelligent?

• This is another question behaviourists dislike as answering it risks anthropomorphism. "Can animals learn" is a lot safer question and the answer is clearly YES. So this leads on to the question of "does an ability to learn prove intelligence"?
• Animals certainly remember and we get into a lot of trouble by forgetting this fact. They remember their first experience very well so it's a good idea to ensure this is not a big negative one.
  
• Remembering is a survival trait for example where animals eat poison once and remember being ill. They are never keen to repeat the event and become "bait shy".
• Professor Brambell argued that "play" is a good guide to the general intelligence level of a species.
  

Can animals think?

• Animals cannot think in abstract terms - they cannot ponder the past or make plans for the future.
  
• If you see them appearing to think, it's more likely to be an "innate" behaviour than the result of logical decision-making. Animals have no notion or morality or right or wrong.
  
• They cannot understand the notion of a "rule". They can be taught rules by the techniques below.