PETA wants web cams in shearing sheds
Animal rights protest group PETA is calling for Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to introduce legislation which would make it mandatory to have live-streaming web cameras in all New Zealand shearing shed.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor is setting up a ‘taskforce’ on the animal welfare issues of winter grazing.
“Images of cows up to their knees in mud, unable to lie down and rest and calving in these conditions is unacceptable to me and I’ve heard loud and clear from the public that it’s unacceptable to them too,” O’Connor says.
“Winter crop grazing is necessary in some regions to provide enough feed for stock at a time when there’s not a lot of pasture. Done well, it provides animals with quality feed to keep them warm over winter.
“Done badly it means cattle can be knee deep in mud which gives rise to completely justifiable concerns for their welfare. Winter grazing also has an environmental impact and the Government is working on ways to address that too.”
Some farmers are falling well below acceptable winter grazing practice, he says.
“Unfortunately, it’s another situation of a small number of farmers letting the side down and bringing everyone into disrepute.”
O’Connor says MPI’s animal welfare unit has stepped up its compliance activity and is watching.
“I am bringing together a taskforce of vets, industry leaders and officials to identify the issues and bring me some solutions.”
The group will first meet “in the next few weeks” and will report to the minister on first steps by the end of the month.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.