“The code, which applies to sheep and beef animals farmed for meat and fibre, aims to adopt the highest standards for husbandry, care and handling. Federated Farmers fully supports this Code, but would like to remind the public that the vast majority of farmers already employ these standards,” says Lachlan McKenzie, Federated Farmers animal welfare spokesman.

“This Code will only apply to a tardy few, as most of New Zealand’s farmers have very healthy stock.

“That said, it is good to see some of the changes that Federated Farmers submitted on during the Code’s draft consultation process coming through in the end result.

“For example some of the wording in the draft Code were ambiguous, while other parts didn’t provide adequate flexibility to cover the different circumstances that can arise on the farm.

“Federated Farmers has helped ensure much of this wording has been changed in order to make the Code more workable, while still maintaining the high standard of animal welfare that is so integral to farming in New Zealand.

“However, Federated Farmers still has a few concerns about the Code. Some of the minimum standards are now associated to indicator values which intend to provide guidance as to how the code requirements could be complied with.

“These indicators appear to foreshadow a move towards prescriptive rather than outcome focused farming, which is definitely something we don’t want to see,” Mr McKenzie said.