Minister fears induced births in dairy herds could hurt NZ

Allowing dairy farmers to continue a widespread practice of inducing births in their milking cows to get all the animals in the herds milking early in season would hurt perceptions in affluent markets offshore, says Agriculture Minister David Carter.

"There is no doubt that widespread use of induction has the potential to damage New Zealand's reputation, and would be a bad look in today's overseas markets," he said last night.

Mr Carter was responding to one of the ugliest practices in the dairy industry, by which some dairy farmers routinely induce the births of calves to bring as many cows as possible into milk production in time for the peak of grass growth.

Some calves -- often the offspring of animals which failed to fall pregnant when the herd was first inseminated -- are born weeks or months early and die.

A code of practice put in place in March 2006 to force farmers to better justify the use of the steroid most commonly used -- Dexamethasone ester -- is due to expire. Authorities had expected that by 2010 inductions would be allowed on only 2 percent of national herd: limiting it to emergency use.

The Food Safety Authority (FSA) has previously raised questions over animal welfare issues, and whether use of the drug could produce "demonstrable evidence of unnecessary pain or distress".

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) said earlier this year, in its report on a code of welfare for dairy cattle, that induction "has the potential to affect the welfare of both cow and calf adversely" and said it did not support induction.

Mr Carter told NZPA that the dairy industry had recognised the practice "is no longer acceptable," and that the proportion of the national herd being induced had fallen from 9 percent in 1998 to just over 4 percent now.

"The Government is supportive of the industry's aim," said the minister. "We are monitoring the voluntary efforts of the industry closely".

"Although they have been successful to date, if the situation was to change the Government would consider regulating to ban inductions".

New Zealand Veterinary Association resource manager Wayne Ricketts told NZPA he had been talking with Federated Farmers and Dairy NZ about phasing out the practice in 2013.

He said up to 5 percent of births were induced. "We have got some farmers doing quite high numbers, exceeding 20 percent to 25 percent of their herd".

"We've set targets for the next three years in individual herds, going from 15 percent next year, to 8 percent the following year, then 4 percent," Mr Ricketts said. "We want to phase out the whole thing after that".