Animal Welfare Guidelines
/• Transporting lame sheep and cattle
Sheep, Cattle deer and pigs must be able to bear some weight on all limbs. Severe lameness can only be moved for treatment. If unsure get a Vet certificate. With lines of lame sheep a vet certificate is required.
• Dehorning
To dehorn any cattle local anaesthetic must be used. This includes calves.
To transport animals the horns must be inside the ears. Ingrown horns left unattended are an offence.
The best time to dehorn an animal is as a calf, this includes beef cattle. Using local plus debudding iron will achieve the best results. We do have a certification process to farmers to administer local anaesthetic and dehorn their own cattle. It does require an on-farm audit annually.
• Castration
Can be done with a ring up to 6 months of age, after that local anaesthetic must be used when castrating.
