Animal Welfare

The Five Freedoms model promotes the need to ensure cattle drink enough water, eat sufficient food, maintain a balanced diet, consume a variety of foods and eat correct quantities.

This is managed on the ship by:

1. Cattle are fed multiple times a day with combinations of pellets and high quality hay.
2. Feedstuffs are nutritionally tested prior to loading to meet energy, protein, fibre and quality specifications.
3. Fresh water access is provided as the livestock need it from an onboard de-salination facility.
4. Sufficient food and fresh water are provided for the livestock during their journey and beyond in case of delays.

The Five Freedoms model promotes conditions for cattle with comfortable temperatures, appropriate surfaces, space for movement, fresh air and tolerable odours, lighting and noise. These conditions should have normal and predictable variations in their surroundings.

This is managed by:

1. Purpose built or converted vessels with superior ventilation systems that provide an air exchange rate in excess of 250m 3 /hr. Enclosed decks are kept within preferred temperature and humidity rates as needed throughout the voyage by the ventilation systems.
2. Sawdust bedding is loaded onto the vessel at a minimum of 7mt per 1,000m 2 of pen space. This is laid out in preparation for cattle loading and replaced as needed during the voyage.
3. Decks are washed regularly while at sea to remove manure and reduce humidity and ammonia within the pen microclimate.
4. At a minimum, cattle have access to share space where they can all comfortably lie down to rest. New Zealand cattle are light-loaded so that each animal has even more space than specified in the international standards published by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The Five Freedoms model promotes that cattle have little or no disease, injury or functional impairment. Cattle should have appropriate body conditions and a good fitness level.

Prevention, or rapid diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury so animals enjoy good health during voyages is managed by:

1. Preventative disease programmes successfully lower the incidence of disease through vaccination, acclimation, husbandry and environmental management. These programmes are overseen by skilled local and international veterinarians.
2. Onboard, experienced stockmen and veterinarians monitor and treat isolated cases of injury and disease immediately.
3. Best practice industry-leading exporters achieve mortality rates less than 0.035%. Exporters also recognise mortality alone is not the only measurement of welfare. The onboard veterinarian records welfare indicators in real-time and report them daily to both the Ministry for Primary Industries and the exporter.
4. Temperature and humidity are reported continuously using dataloggers. Welfare indicators are environmental (temperature, humidity, pad score) and animal-based (voluntary feed and water intakes, manure score, respiration and heat stress scores, morbidity records).

The Five Freedoms model promotes that cattle have agency, affording them the ability to engage in voluntary, self-generated and goal-direct behaviour that they are motivated to perform.

This includes providing diverse and engaging environmental challenges, ensuring positive sensory experiences, allowing choices in their surroundings, granting freedom of movement, exploration, bonding and playing, as well as sufficient sleep and rest.

This is managed by:

1. Cattle are always handled and kept in carefully selected groups so they feel comfortable and unthreatened.
2. Prior to export, cattle are drafted into specific weight and type lines to prevent crowding or bullying. These lines are established early so that by loading, herd social dynamics are well-established, in line with modern understanding of cattle behaviour and emotion.
3. After mealtimes cattle rest and ruminate, just as they do on land.

Exporters recognise the sentience of their livestock and provide conditions to meet the first four freedoms to make their cattle feel safe and secure, and in a good mental state.

This is managed by:

1. Ensuring livestock feel safe, calm and secure. These cattle are healthier, more productive and are also safer and easier for personnel to work with.
2. Personnel carry out low-stress livestock handling, cattle are kept in stable social groups with their peers, the feeding routine is the same each day and the environment is cleaned regularly. These factors all contribute to cattle feeling a comfortable and in a positive mental state.