“We fully support the aim of ensuring high standards of animal welfare. But these proposed policy changes, while well meaning, will have ramifications for the whole supply chain. Confidence within the livestock sector would drain away, market barriers would be created, and our global trade competitiveness would be seriously undermined.”
That was the message from NFU Livestock Board Chair David Barton after the NFU submitted its response, plus the responses of 675 NFU members, to Defra on its consultation on proposed changes to castration and tail docking methods.
The consultation, which the NFU aided members to respond to by hosting a simplified survey on NFUonline, proposed that routine castration and tail docking should be minimised and, if used, carried out with pain relief.
The consultation also promoted new methods (clips), currently used in Scotland on lambs up to 3 months old (authorised for use on lambs up to 7 days old in England), to be allowed without pain relief on lambs up to 3 months old in England, which the government says have been shown to be less harmful to welfare.
Significant concerns
“In our response, we set out clearly why practices like castration and tail docking are carried out within the sheep sector for a range of reasons; to ease management, prevent unwanted pregnancies and fly strike, a significant welfare issue, and ensure a consistent lamb trade for domestic and global markets,” continued David.
“Across our membership, we had more than 670 responses to this consultation.
“There was significant concern that the suggested alternative methods will not be proven to be safe by the 2028 implementation date, or that there will be suitable and authorised pain relief products for lambs available on the market.
“If these measures are pushed through, UK lamb will be less competitive compared with the thousands of tonnes of imported lamb, potentially produced to lower animal welfare standards, each year.
“It would also contradict the government’s stated ambitions of growth and increased profitability in the food and farming industry.”
NFU position
The NFU has consulted extensively with its members, and the resulting positions of the National Livestock Board are:
- Lambs aged between 0-to-7 days old should be excluded from the proposals. Due to the lack of available, licenced, and safe pain relief products for lambs, all methods of castration and tail docking (apart from surgical) should be permitted on lambs aged 0-to-7 days old without the use of anaesthetic or analgesic.
- For lambs aged 8 days and older that are stronger and larger, pain relief may be appropriate. However, the challenges of available and licenced pain relief still stand and therefore the timescales to implement proposals by 2028 need to be removed while suitable alternatives are brought to market.
- Castration and tail docking should continue to be permitted on lambs under 24 hours old.
- A trained and competent stockkeeper is someone with on-farm training. This should be referenced in the annual flock health plan, signed off by the farm’s vet. The trained and competent stockkeeper should be 18 years old, or if aged 16 to 18 should be under supervision by a trained and competent stockkeeper who is at least 18 years old.
Market barriers
The NFU's response made clear the proposals within the consultation, if implemented, would significantly diminish confidence in the sector, create market barriers, and undermine our global trade competitiveness.
These detrimental impacts would be felt throughout the supply chain and would contradict the government’s stated ambitions of growth and increased profitability in the food and farming industry.
Concerns for animal welfare
The NFU believes the 2028 implementation date for these proposals is unfeasible.
Animal welfare is a top priority for livestock farmers, yet across NFU membership there is significant concern that the suggested alternative methods will not be proven to be safe by this date, or that there will be suitable and authorised pain relief products available on the market. This is something the NFU heard time and time again during its engagement webinars with its members throughout the consultation period.
The NFU and its members fully support the aim of ensuring high standards of animal welfare. However, the proposed policy changes, while well-meaning, will be detrimental to animal welfare, reduce UK farmers and businesses ability to compete, damage confidence even further and impact potential for growth in the UK sheep sector that has a strong future supplying quality lamb for the domestic and export market.
Wide-reaching impact
The NFU believes the de minimis assessment is flawed and is not strong enough to justify the legislative changes proposed.
It does not understand the influence of varying farming systems on the feasibility of these proposals, nor does it cover the full impact these proposals will have on consumer choice, supply chain efficiency, reputation, food safety, lifetime welfare of the animal, trade, medicine availability, the environment, biosecurity, cost, administrative burden, time and labour, and alternative methods.
NFU members can read the full response in this PDF download: NFU response to lamb castration and tail docking consultation
Read the NFU Livestock Board's position on each of the proposals.
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