Are you prepared for calving season?

Now’s a great time to review the calf transport rules and check that your shelter and loading facilities are clean and well maintained.

Fit for transport

Calves less than 14 days old, that are leaving the farm for sale or to go to the meat processor, must be fit for transport and meet these requirements.

Calves must:

1. be at least four full days old (96 hours)

2. have a dry, shrivelled navel

3. have firm, worn hooves

4. be able to stand up, walk and bear weight evenly on all four limbs

5. be able to protect themselves from being trampled or injured by other calves

6. be free from injury and birth defects (e.g. blindness, contracted tendons) that would mean they cannot withstand the journey

7. be free from scours or other signs of disease that would mean they cannot withstand the journey biggest trading partners are not paying a price for their methane emissions, neither should NZ farmers.

Calves should be well-fed with bright eyes and ears up.

“Farmers in countries who are our biggest trading partners are not paying a price for their methane emissions, and under ACT neither would New Zealand farmers,” ACT MP Mark Cameron and ACT candidate Andrew Hoggard said at the launch of the policy at Fieldays.

The Zero Carbon Act’s targets and the Climate Change Commission will also be disestablished.

“Farmers have had a torrid six years under Labour. They’ve had to put up with an avalanche of regulation and red tape from out-of-touch Wellington bureaucrats and the government has tried to sacrifice them to the climate gods by implementing an emissions-pricing scheme that would only send production to less-efficient countries,” Cameron said.

He said ACT is the only party calling for agricultural emissions to be measured accurately. Climate scientists have pointed out that the New Zealand Government’s calculations refuse to even measure methane as the short-lived gas that it is.

Candidate Andrew Hoggard said Labour and the Greens are undermining efforts by the people who care most about the environment.

“Farmers have the biggest incentive to care about the environment because they make a living from it,” he said.

“A Party Vote for ACT is a vote to end the endless red tape and regulation, to give farmers certainty they won’t be unfairly taxed, to ensure they can get staff when they need them, and to give them – not central planners in Wellington – control over how they do things,” he said.

ACT’s agricultural policy includes:

• A “genuine split gas approach”, acknowledging the fundamental difference between livestock methane and carbon dioxide.

• Shifting responsibility for farm plans from Wellington to regional councils, while ensuring a consistent template is used and existing plans remain valid.

• Making sure people with practical animal handling and farming experience are appointed to the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee.

• Removing barriers stalling the uptake of new technologies by liberalising GE laws.

Shelter and loading facilities

Calves must have suitable shelter at all stages of their journey – before loading, during transport, and at their destination.

Loading facilities may take any form - a ramp, a raised platform, a tractor tray - provided they meet the criteria in the regulations.

Loading facilities must:

1. allow calves to walk on and off stock transport vehicles

2. minimise the risk of a calf injuring itself, becoming distressed, slipping, or falling off

If in doubt, leave it out. Check

Learn more about the calf regulations at mpi.govt.nz/animalregs

• Addressing workforce shortages by removing the cap on the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, abolishing labour market tests and wage rules, removing the “work to residence” divide for occupations on the Green List, and bringing back 90-day trials.

• A new minister and Ministry of Regulation to prevent pointless regulation and red tape from being introduced.

• Getting rid of Three Waters and bringing back a local approach to water resources.

• Liberalising water storage requirements to increase farmer resilience to climate and seasonal pressures while maintaining aquifer health. And allowing councils to opt into a system in which water resource consents would be converted into timebased tradeable water permits so farmers could trade water allocations according to a sensible pricing system.

• Bringing back live animal exports, under a world-leading animal welfare standard.

• Scrapping Significant Natural Areas and “restoring private property rights”.

• Scrapping the “ute tax”.