FARMERS are being warned that sheep and cattle are next on the agenda for a strategy developing livestock welfare standards and guidelines across Australia.
The Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) was developed to provide national and international communities with an appreciation of animal welfare arrangements in Australia and future directions for improvements in animal welfare.
Coordinated and facilitated by Animal Health Australia, the series of projects to refine the Model Codes of Practice into agreed standards and guidelines are now being undertaken.
It was under the strategy that the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for the Land Transport of Livestock were developed, for which the legislation enactment is scheduled on February-March 2010.
The next two projects in the AAWS are the development of proposed standards and guidelines for sheep and for cattle.
The sheep project will consider issues such as responsibilities and competency, feed and water, loading, journey duration, travel conditions, spelling periods, risk management of climatic extremes, natural disasters, predation and disease, handling and husbandry practices, surgical husbandry procedures, mulesing and breeding management procedures.
Both cattle and sheep projects are at the writing stage, and Australian Wool Innovation director David Webster is urging farmers to be aware of what it could mean to their industries.
Mr Webster described the standards and guidelines as "seriously dangerous" and said two of the members of the writing group were animal activists.
"This could make it very restrictive for farmers to run livestock," Mr Webster said.
"It is very important that people running sheep or livestock get a good long look at that document before it is too late."
Animal Health Australia said the standards and guidelines development process incorporated relevant state and territory government agencies, the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), representatives from livestock industry sectors, animal welfare and research organisations and other stakeholders to ensure the standards were practical for industry and also result in improved livestock welfare outcomes.
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