Health & Welfare progress

Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare (2010)

The Dairy Cattle Code was issued by the Government in February 2010.

It contains 20 Minimum Standards which have legal effect.

  1. Stockmanship
  2. Food
  3. Feeding Newborn Calves
  4. Hand Rearing Calves
  5. Water
  6. Shelter
  7. Farm Facilities
  8. Stand-off Areas and Feed Pads
  9. Housing Cows and Calves
  10. Stock Handling
  11. Droving
  12. Restraint
  13. Identification (hot iron branding)
  14. Milking
  15. Calving in Dairy Cattle
  16. Caring for Recumbent Cows
  17. Calf Management
  18. Pre-transport Selection
  19. Health
  20. Emergency Humane Destruction

These have been grouped in to five sections:

  • Stockmanship (1, 10 and 19)
  • Food and water (2 and 5)
  • Physical environment (6, 7, 8 and 9)
  • Husbandry practices (11, 12, 14, 15 and 16)
  • Calf management (3, 4, 9 and 17)

Minimum standard 13, 18 and 20 are covered in painful procedures, transport and humane slaughter sections.