Australian industry plans calving induction phase-out, looking to avoid animal welfare scrutiny

The Australian dairy industry has committed to phasing out the practice of calving induction.
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Calving induction involves veterinarians administering an injection that aborts the cow’s pregnancy, so the cow gives birth to a premature calf that is often euthanased.
This year the New Zealand dairy industry implemented a voluntary ban on the practice, beginning in June.
The use of the practice has halved in recent years in Australia, but the industry now wants to stamp it out completely but will not put a timeframe on when it will stop.
David Basham is the chair of animal health and welfare committee for national lobby group, Australian Dairy Farmers.
«Calving induction is a practice that’s been on farms to try and synchronise the calving pattern to match feed supply,» Mr Basham said.
«It’s the bringing forward of the birth of the calf to bring on early lactation of the cow.»
According to a survey carried out by Dairy Australia, 1.3 per cent of the national dairy herd is induced.
This figure has almost halved since 2012, when 2.16 per cent of the national herd was being induced.
Mr Basham said the practice could be phased out in Australia, as had already been done in New Zealand.
«There’s a constantly changing perception in the community about what’s acceptable,» he said.
«The dairy industry has recognised a need to change and has decided it’s necessary to move away from this practice.»
Mr Basham would not commit to a time period within which the practice could be phased out.
He said it took New Zealand five to seven years, and would take the Australian industry a similar amount of time, or longer, if there was a drought which would change management practices on farms.
RSPCA senior scientific officer for farm animals Melina Tenson said the fact the industry was committing to stopping inducing cows was commendable.
She said the sooner the practice was phased out, the better, but would not nominate an acceptable timeframe.
«We’ve always had a position of opposing the practice, particularly when it is used as a managed tool to synchronise calving in the dairy industry,» Ms Tenson said.
«As long as farmers move away from the practice, that’s a very good step.»

Voiceless calls for legislation to prevent calving induction

Spokesperson for animal rights group Voiceless, Elise Burgess, said a broad timeframe was not good enough, and the industry needed to make it illegal to induce pregnant cows for herd management reasons.
«What we think is more important is backing up the industry phase out with legislative change,» she said.
«That’s where the real weight behind an industry phase-out will take place.»
Ms Burgess said calving induction could be a brutal practice.
«A mother cow, who is in the stages of a natural pregnancy, will be forced to give birth prematurely,» she said.
«The result of this has serious welfare concerns for her and the calf. For the calf obviously they are being born premature.
«More often than not they won’t even survive the birth, and if they do, they can often be far too weak to survive and as a result they will be killed straight after birth on farm.
«This can happen through blunt force trauma, which is often a hammer. That alone is something that should be avoided at all costs.»

Vet turned dairy farmer reduces calving induction

Stuart Griffin, from Westbury near Moe in eastern Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, works on the family farm to milk 380 spring calving cows.
August in Gippsland is a muddy, cold time of year, and Mr Griffin is «right in the thick of calving right now».
He has been back working on the farm for six years, after working as a veterinarian in northern Victoria.
Mr Griffin said the ultimate aim of calving induction should be to try and eliminate the use of the practice on that farm.
«The aim should be to make late calvers into early calvers, so they have a much better chance of being in calf early next year, » he said.
«While it’s not a job that you particularly enjoy doing, you know there is a purpose to it.»
The family’s Gippsland property has been reducing the amount of cows induced over the last five years.
Mr Griffin said it was now a rare occurrence to induce a cow on his farm.
«The industry knows that there’s a community expectation to be improving our welfare. As an industry we need to be ahead of the game,» he said.
«You don’t solve one animal welfare problem and that means we’re top of the class. We need to be looking for the next improvement.»
Mr Griffin said it would take five to 10 years to completely stop the practice across the whole industry.
He said a timeframe for the phase-out would need to be nominated to completely stop calving induction.
«That’s part of achieving these animal welfare standard improvements. There has to be a date that it stops,» he said.
«What is important is dairy farmers are supported so they can eliminate calving induction in their herds.»
 
 
Source: ABC
 

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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