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Changes to the Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle

Have your say

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) has reviewed the Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle. It determined the code requires amendments to incorporate:

  • advances in animal welfare science
  • updates to dairy cattle farming systems and management practices
  • changing views and expectations by the New Zealand public.

NAWAC is seeking your views on the proposed changes to the Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle and associated recommendations for regulations.

Consultation opens on 28 April 2022 and closes on 30 June 2022.

Consultation document

Proposed Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle and associated regulations [PDF, 758 KB]

Related documents

NAWAC dairy cattle code review evaluation report [PDF, 1.3 MB]

NAWAC proposed Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle [PDF, 924 KB]

What's being proposed?

NAWAC has committed to a programme to review the existing codes of welfare issued under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, beginning with priority livestock codes for dairy cattle, sheep and beef cattle, and deer.

NAWAC completed a review of the Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle, and is consulting on updated minimum standards and recommendations for best practice. The objective is to lift the code to address changes in good practice, available technology and science, and the explicit recognition of sentience in the Animal Welfare Act.

The main areas of proposed change are:

  • the use of electric devices to manage animal behaviour (including electro immobilisation)
  • body condition score
  • intensive winter grazing
  • shelter
  • provision of lying surfaces and limits for time on hard surfaces in off-paddock facilities
  • calf rearing
  • end-of-life management.

Other topics we'd like your feedback on are:

  • emerging technologies
  • working relationships with veterinarians
  • selection and breeding
  • painful husbandry procedures
  • contingency planning
  • welfare assurance systems.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the proposed changes in the code. Refer to the full consultation document for details.

Making your submission

Email your feedback on the draft code by 5pm on 30 June 2022 to animal.consult@mpi.govt.nz

You can use our online survey to make a submission.

While we prefer email, you can post written submissions to:

Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle Submission
Ministry for Primary Industries
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140
New Zealand.

What to include

Make sure you tell us in your submission:

  • The title of the consultation document.
  • Your name, title, and occupation or group you best relate to (for example, farmer, transport company, animal health professional, animal welfare group, or researcher).
  • Your organisation's name (if you are submitting on behalf of an organisation, and whether your submission represents the whole organisation or a section of it).
  • Your contact details (such as phone number, address, and email).

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation