SPECIAL REPORT
Whatever it takes By Samantha Tennent
Those in the livestock exporting industry and others want the Government to roll back their decision to ban the practice and are prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure it continues.
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n what could be the final nail in the coffin, the Government has proposed a Bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act making the ban on sea freight for exporting livestock permanent. This would make it difficult for any future governments to reverse the ban and close the door on the trade for good. The proposal does not sit well with some. “The ban is a knee-jerk reaction after the Gulf Livestock 1 maritime tragedy and ignores the independent advice supporting the continuation of the trade,” National Party spokesperson for animal welfare Tim van de Molen says. “That undermines those who are making improvements and while we support tightening of rules, we trust industry to determine appropriate solutions. “They have a lot at stake and the Government shouldn’t dictate what needs to happen.” The ban could create ripple effects on further trading. “We do need to keep in mind the implications on trade relationships, it isn’t a simple fix, there are aspects that could trigger other concerns, but the trade provides significant benefits and should continue,” he says. “Transparency is important and animal welfare checks need to be rigorous, but we have every confidence the industry would develop what is necessary.” The Animal Genetic Trade Association (AGTA) are not going down without a fight and have been working hard to encourage submissions against the Bill. “We need to look at this from a global perspective, we can’t just look at this from inside New Zealand,” AGTA technical advisor Dr Jim Edwards says. “The level of urbanisation around the world is affecting food security and we are in a position where we can and should help.” Markets import livestock to create self-sufficient herds that can supply
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Cattle onboard the ships are well-fed, watered and cared for with a vet checking them twice a day.
milk and meat products to their people. Creating herds helps overcome food shortage problems, but the reality for many countries is that they do not have the space or the water security to sustain enough production to feed their population and they will continue to need other trade products. “Many relationships are built from livestock trading,” he says. “There are concerns if China couldn’t source livestock from New Zealand anymore and looked to other countries, those relationships could evolve further and impact more of our economy.” Some suggest exporting germplasm such as semen and embryos as an alternative, but that is already happening. China needs stock to breed from and many of the importers are seeking livestock to quickly establish the foundations of new herds. “Sending semen and embryos is only viable once herds are established; they need the heifers to build the herds in the first place and once they’re established they can breed their own replacements and become self-sufficient,” he says. “There is a lot of development happening and not just in China. We
have other countries asking for help to develop their food production by building herds. “And some countries just do not have sufficient pasture and grazing land to breed and raise the number of cattle required to feed their population.” If the Bill goes ahead, it will prohibit anyone from obtaining an animal welfare export certificate to export cattle, deer, sheep and goats by sea from April 30, 2023. Currently, it is an offence to export an animal from NZ without a certificate issued under the Animal Welfare Act. Animal welfare and reputational risk are the common themes among those opposed to the trade. Their views were expressed during the consultation period on the Livestock Export Review that was carried out by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) from November 2019 to January 2020. Welfare of animals was highlighted by Trade Minister Damien O’Connor when he made the announcement of the ban, but there are further welfare concerns to consider. Transportation after arrival is one, with many importing countries relying on multi-purpose trucks rather than the specialised trucks that NZ uses.
DAIRY FARMER
December 2021
