New rules brought in to combat bobby calf abuse in New Zealand

New animal welfare regulations are to come into effect in New Zealand which relate to the treatment of bobby calves, the Ministry for Primary Industries has announced.

The treatment of bobby calves was thrown into the media spotlight last year after undercover investigative footage showed cruelty and abuse of bobby calves.

Now, new legislation is to come into effect following a public consultation on proposed animal welfare regulations where a number of proposals were submitted which relate to bobby calves.

The Ministry of Primary Industries said it received around 1,500 submissions about the proposed regulations – and about 120 of those were on the young calf proposals.

Overall, it said that the proposals on bobby calves were widely supported.

Government ministers have now agreed to progress a set of regulations for young calves and it’s planned for some to come into force as close as possible to the start of the 2016 spring calving season.

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Others will have a delayed start date to allow enough time for farmers, transport operators and processors to make the business changes necessary to comply with them, the ministry announced.

Regulations taking immediate effect will:

Require that young calves must be at least four full days of age and physically fit before they are transported for sale or slaughter.
Set a maximum duration of 12 hours journey time for young calves being transported for sale or slaughter prohibit the transport of young calves by sea across Cook Strait.
Prohibit the killing of any calves by use of blunt force trauma, except in an emergency situation.

Regulations that will be introduced later will:

Require that young calves must be fed at least once in the 24 hours before slaughter. (Coming into effect in February 2017).
Require that suitable shelter be provided for young calves before and during transportation, and at points of sale or slaughter. (Coming into effect August 2017).
Rrequire that loading and unloading facilities be provided and used when young calves are transported for sale and slaughter. (Coming into effect August 2017).