Humane Slaughter
3 min read
Humane on-farm slaughter refers to the practice of ending an animal's life with minimal pain, distress, or suffering. The person who carries out slaughter has a legal responsibility to cause the least stress possible to the animal. Basic requirements include establishing a farm policy, ensuring proper training, following correct processes, reducing stress, and choosing an appropriate location. Detailed plans are necessary for humane slaughter, and guidelines help ensure compliance with animal welfare legislation.
Whatever the reason for putting down an animal, the primary aim of on-farm slaughter is to bring about death with the minimum of pain, suffering and distress to the animal.
From 1 June 2023, Fonterra farmers must ensure all their non-replacement calves enter a value stream - either beef, calf-veal (bobby) or petfood. This means that the on-farm slaughter of non-replacement calves will be prohibited for Fonterra farmers. You can euthanise for humane reasons and if you have questions, please contact your Fonterra representative.
*Non-replacement calves include all calves born on-farm that do not go into the dairy herd as replacements (including bobby calves).
The person carrying out the slaughter of any animal has a legal responsibility to ensure the procedure causes minimum stress to the animal. Are you up to speed with changes in the Code of Welfare?
The humane slaughter guidelines will help you and your staff ensure any animals slaughtered on-farm are put down in a humane, respectful and effective manner.
Basic requirements should be met before slaughtering any animal on-farm. These include:
Plan ahead
Each farm should have a written policy and procedures for the humane slaughter of livestock.
Who
Any person who undertakes this task must be trained. They must demonstrate knowledge and competency in the safe handling of animals and effective methods for putting livestock down, before being authorised to carry out the slaughter of animals on-farm.
When
All stock must be put down with respect, using an approved method without causing undue stress, pain or discomfort.
Where
The slaughter of livestock is a sensitive issue for everyone and while it is an unavoidable fact of farm life, wherever possible, it should be carried out responsibly; away from other animals and public view.
Dead stock disposal
It is important to dispose of stock quickly and appropriately to prevent the spread of disease to other stock and people, the contamination of waterways and access by dogs or other animals. See Waste management.
Animal Welfare Legislation
Observing these guidelines will ensure that you comply with the Code of Welfare: Dairy Cattle (2014) Minimum Standard No. 17 - Calf Management, and Minimum Standard No. 20 - Emergency Humane Destruction.
Yes, all methods of putting down animals require a level of skill to achieve a rapid and painless death with minimal distress. It is important that anyone putting down livestock on-farm is trained and competent.
No. There is no requirement to have a firearms licence to purchase or use a captive bolt, or to purchase activators (cartridges), but training is strongly recommended. Captive bolts and activators should be stored separately and securely when not being used.
Yes, you can but there are different colour-coded activators for each class of stock.
Green = calves
Yellow = light cows
Blue = heavy cows
Red = bulls
Use of incorrect charges can result in ineffective stunning.
Yes, the use of lethal injection is also a recommended method for humane slaughter but must be administered by a veterinarian. Extreme care must be taken when disposing of carcases to ensure the contaminated meat is not fed to any other animal or person.
An emergency situation is where an animal is experiencing severe pain or suffering that will become worse if they are not immediately treated or put down.
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