Statement: Intensive Winter Grazing

Veterinary-led response to assist media reporting on the recent round of cows-in-mud (i.e., intensive winter grazing (IWG)) photo evidence taken in Southland:

Dr Helen Beattie is the managing director of Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa (VAWA) and in response to recent intensive winter grazing photo evidence, says:

"In all winter grazing systems - including crops and grass/baleage systems - poor practice leads to poor outcomes and our animals and our environment will suffer.

"I was a member of the Winter Grazing Taskforce, set up in 2019 by the NZ Government. It was made clear to us that additional regulatory tools were needed so animal welfare inspectors can deal with unacceptable animal welfare outcomes from poor winter grazing practices.

"Accordingly, the Taskforce recommended development of regulations to deal with for example, a lack of ready access to freshwater and inappropriate lying surfaces, and calves being born on mud."

"NAWAC’s 2022 draft Code of Welfare for Dairy Cattle included all these regulatory proposals and they were strongly supported by many animal welfare advocates; they were opposed by DairyNZ. At this point, it is not clear whether or not these regulations will be progressed. In 2023, there no more regulatory tools available to animal welfare inspectors than there were in 2019."

"Obviously, cows need ready access to fresh water - it is unfathomable that this even needs to be regulated; yet it does. And we know that lying is an important welfare indicator for cattle; their welfare is negatively affected when they cannot happily lie, rest and sleep. We know cattle prefer not to lie on sloppy, muddy surfaces such as those seen in many winter grazing scenarios.

"While there is biological variation with pregnancy length, if we move cows off crop and on to pasture 14 days before their scanned birthing date, most calves will be born after the cows are shifted. With this knowledge available to us, it is simply unacceptable to have cows calving on mud in the last 14 days of their pregnancy and I very much hope we don’t see this as we approach the start of calving."

"Our calves and cows deserve better - they should not be born on, nor expect to live each winter in unacceptably muddy and unsuitable paddocks. It’s not good for our animals, our environment, nor our people.

"It’s enormously frustrating that animal welfare focused winter grazing regulations haven’t been progressed. Inaction on regulation development means cows continue to suffer unnecessarily and a photo slideshow from hell keeps documenting the unequivocable evidence of this to New Zealanders as well as our trading partners."

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