Here you’ll find support on nutrition, health, environment & behaviour, including practical guidance to manage nutrition, reduce SCC and lameness, strengthen biosecurity, support natural behaviours, and meet requirements for non‑replacement calves.
Summary:
Healthy animals are key to farm success. Good nutrition, proactive health management, and sustainable practices protect your herd and the environment.
Nutrition - Pasture-based farming
Pasture-based farming provides high-quality nutrition for cows and calves to support their overall wellbeing.
The Body Condition Score (BCS) is a visual estimate of an animal's body fat reserves and can be used as an indicator of nutritional wellbeing. Best practice is to monitor the BCS of your animals frequently throughout the year, but at the very least you should be meeting industry targets at key times of year.
Find out more about the Body Condition Score and how it can help you monitor herd nutrition within your Animal Wellbeing Plan.
We are still waiting for better tools to measure the positive nutritional outcomes for our pasture-fed cattle, but there’s no reason farmers can’t start thinking about different tools now. Consider whether your farm supports nutritional wellbeing in other areas such as:
Water
- Trough locations
- Trough size and flow rates
- Water quality testing
- Water security for drought-prone regions
Food
- Feed budgets/planning
- Grazing time
- Nutritional content/balance
- Diet variety and choice
Health - Managing SCC and lameness
Managing SCC and lameness, and find best practice information and resources for the wellbeing of your herd.
Fonterra farmers must meet dairy industry regulations. Fonterra’s Managing Somatic Cell Count programme provides tailored on-farm assistance to help find the causes of mastitis and reduce its occurrence.
The Managing Somatic Cell Count programme assists farmers to reduce their bulk milk SCC, offering the combined expertise of Fonterra, DairyNZ and accredited vets who offer education, support, testing and training to help farmers find the causes of mastitis and lower their SCC levels.
Find out more about managing mastitis in our SCC Support Factsheet, call the Farmer Support Team on 0800 65 65 68, and visit DairyNZ for more mastitis management tools and resources,
Ensuring your herd is protected from new infections over the dry period means you will be ready to kick off the next milking season. But did you know that most cows don't need antibiotics at dry-off?
Check out DairyNZ's Guideline 14 to learn more about which dry cow management strategy might be best for your farm (or Technote 14 if you're really keen on detail!), and book in to create a dry-off plan with your veterinarian.
The prevention, early detection and treatment of lameness improves animal wellbeing by minimising pain and speeding up recovery.
Although our pasture-based cattle have lower rates of lameness, the New Zealand dairy industry is working to further minimise the animal wellbeing impacts of lameness through encouraging the adoption of practices for the prevention, early detection and effective treatment of lameness on-farm.
Find out more at DairyNZ (including the Healthy Hoof Programme), or contact your veterinarian for more information.
Farm staff undertaking painful procedures and humane slaughter of cattle must be trained and competent. Fonterra recommends that where painful procedures are performed on animals of any age, appropriate pain relief is used to minimise pain and distress for the animal.
Humane slaughter of animals is sometimes a necessary part of farming life but must be carried out by trained and competent persons using methods that are approved under regulation.
Check out the useful links below on cow wellbeing from DairyNZ. There are some great resources on best practice to ensure good cow wellbeing.
Contact the Ministry for Primary Industries on 0800 00 83 33 or email animal.welfare@mpi.govt.nz.
Environment - Managing biosecurity
Managing biosecurity risks on your farm and the importance of a business continuity plan.
Emergencies happen (drought, flood, fire, snow, natural disaster, power outage). All businesses need contingency plans, and because our farm businesses also have responsibility for the animals in our care, dairy farm contingency plans need to minimise the risks to the wellbeing of the animals.
This may include identifying key service contacts (water tankers, feed companies), having plans to cover the evacuation of cattle and identifying key service contacts (water tankers, feed companies) to ensure cattle have ongoing access to shelter, shade, sufficient quantity and quality of balanced nutrition (including water).
An easy-to-locate written plan or list enables you and others to act quickly in an emergency.
It is best practice to conduct a risk assessment of each type of emergency possible for the farm and develop a tailored plan for each instance.
On your plan, include what actions are taken to minimise the effects of adverse weather (e.g. additional feed, move to a lower altitude for snow, higher for flooding), and record key contacts such as stock transporter, water carrier, generator source and feed company.
Additional information and resources:
Biosecurity practices which reduce the spread of diseases and pests are essential for the protection of animal wellbeing and business continuity. It is important to understand your farms risk, and what steps you can put in place to manage the risk.
Your vet will be able to work through a biosecurity plan with you specific to your farm.
DairyNZ have some useful templates to help you make a biosecurity plan. For more information about the importance of biosecurity and your farm, check out the biosecurity information from DairyNZ.
Mycoplasma bovis (M.bovis) is a bacterial infection found in cattle. It is a production limiting, bacterial disease that affects only cattle. The disease does not infect humans and presents no food safety risk. There is no concern about consuming milk or milk products from infected animals. It is not a threat to trade.
Behaviour - Essential for survival
It is essential that animals can express behaviours which are necessary for survival, but non-essential behaviours which provide enjoyment are also important – like bonding and play.
Minimising heat stress is important for animal wellbeing.
Cows can start feeling stress when temperatures rise above 20°C. Knowing the signs your cows may be feeling discomfort due to heat and putting in place management strategies to alleviate this discomfort is important for their wellbeing.
Additional information and resources:
Breeding choices can help improve animal wellbeing as well as productivity. By taking an active role in creating and implementing a herd improvement strategy, your veterinarian can support you to achieve your herds’ genetic improvement goals faster, with fewer unintended consequences.
When creating a herd improvement strategy, you also have an opportunity to consider the impact genetic decisions can have on animal wellbeing. Below are some of the genetic tools available to enhance the wellbeing of our dairy cows.
- Polled genetics
For herds wanting to pursue a polled genetic herd strategy, the fastest gains are made by selectively mating horned cows to bulls with the polled gene. While the current number of polled dairy bulls available is small and the production BW difference is quite large, this will improve as more polled animals are selected by the breeding companies. - Dairy-beef genetics
With typical replacement rates of 20-25%, approximately half the herd could be bred to produce calves to be reared for beef. Purposeful breeding to create calves for dairy-beef rearing is receiving greater attention as a means to improve the environmental footprint of beef production, improve farm profitability and reduce social licence risk. - Sexed semen
With approximately 90% heifer calves arising from sexed inseminations, use of sexed semen is a great tool to help boost the genetic merit of replacement heifers. Sexed semen can be used to generate high quality replacements from top performing cows, also over heifers to accelerate the rate of genetic gain.
Disease prevention is better than cure. We currently know about several heritable disease resistance and tolerance traits, with more bound to be discovered.
Discuss with your vet or breeding company whether you could benefit from incorporating Facial Eczema, mastitis resistance, mobility or calving ease genetic traits in your herd.
Existing breed differences in thermal tolerance can be used to improve herd thermal tolerance.
Full Jersey cows can tolerate hotter conditions than full Fresians. Kiwi-cross have greater thermal tolerance the higher the proportion of Jersey genetics.
In hot conditions, cows with the ‘slick’ gene have been shown to have lower body temperatures and higher milk production compared to non-slick cattle, making this a useful choice for herds in hot areas and/or on farms where other heat-mitigation tools are difficult to implement.
Non-replacement calves
As part of our strategic choice to lead in sustainability, Fonterra places a strong emphasis on calf wellbeing and a big part of this is ensuring that all dairy calves have a useful life.
From 1 June 2023, Fonterra farmers must ensure all their non-replacement calves enter a value stream - either beef, calf-veal or petfood. We have introduced a new clause within the Terms of Supply which means calves can only be euthanised on-farm when there are humane reasons for doing so.
We have introduced a new clause within the Terms of Supply which means calves can only be euthanised on-farm when there are humane reasons for doing so.
When the clause comes into effect on 1 June 2023, Fonterra farmers must ensure all their non-replacement calves enter a value stream - either beef, calf-veal or petfood.
We’re proud that Fonterra farmers are already world leaders when it comes to calf wellbeing. But consumers in New Zealand and around the world are increasingly interested in how their food is produced, including the quality of life experienced by the animals who produce it.
As part of our strategic choice to lead in sustainability, Fonterra places a strong emphasis on calf wellbeing and a big part of this is ensuring dairy calves have a useful life. It’s part of Fonterra’s long-term strategy to grow the value of the milk produced by our farmers by meeting the demand for food with really great animal wellbeing credentials.
Other countries and companies have already introduced policies and assurance schemes that provide consumer guarantees about the on-farm treatment of calves. Ultimately, it’s a risk mitigation will allow us to remain competitive in-market.
The majority of Fonterra farmers don’t need to alter their current practices as a result of this change. However, we understand the change may be a challenge for a small number of farmers and are working to provide support and options to make the transition easier.
This includes actively collaborating with the wider industry to create a greater range of market options for dairy calves, by investing in R&D and exploring long-term solutions such as sexed-semen and dairy-beef partnerships.
We signalled the change one season before it comes into effect to give impacted farmers time to prepare.
Fonterra is actively collaborating with the wider industry to create a greater range of market options for dairy calves by investing in R&D and exploring long-term solutions such as sexed-semen and dairy-beef partnerships.
There are tools available to help farmers (outlined above) that we will continue to update over the coming months, and new tools will be shared as they’re developed.
We understand collection services may be a challenge in some regions and this is one of the reasons we’re signaling this change early. We wanted to give farmers time to plan.
Right now Fonterra is working closely with individual meat processors and the Meat Industry Association on capacity requirements.
- To relieve suffering in an emergency situation
- Following vet advice
- To relieve suffering from a significant congenital abnormality (birth defect)
- To protect the wellbeing of an animal which is unfit for transport.
We still want farmers to be able to do home kill for their own meat. It is unlikely that farmers would use home kill services on young calves.
Beef processing is considered a 'value stream' so it would be permitted.
In New Zealand, the minimum legal age for transport of calves is four days of age. This means calves being transported live (e.g. for beef, calf-veal, or some petfood processing) must be reared on-farm until they are at least four days old.
Some petfood operators may humanely euthanise calves on-farm prior to transport, in which case the four day minimum age does not apply.
The new clause within the Terms of Supply means calves can only be euthanised on-farm when there are humane reasons for doing so. When the clause comes into effect on 1 June 2023, Fonterra farmers must ensure all their non-replacement calves enter a value stream -either beef, calf-veal or petfood.
Yes, third party pet food processors where calves are slaughtered by the pet food processor, either on-farm (transported dead) or at the processing facility (transported live) is considered an acceptable value stream.
Calves that are euthanised on farm for the purpose of rendering is no longer an acceptable practice. Consumers here in New Zealand and around the world are increasingly looking for more assurances around the quality of life experienced by the animals who produce their food. Calves that are stillborn or euthanised on-farm on humane grounds (refer above) can be sent to rendering processors.
On-farm euthanasia of non-replacement calves is permitted for humane reasons.
We expect there would be veterinary involvement if there is a significant disease outbreak requiring euthanasia of multiple calves.
No. While Animal Wellbeing is a fundamental component of the Co-operative Difference, this change is not an achievement within The Co-operative Difference programme.
Farms supplying Fonterra provide assurance via several pathways including real-time data technology, electronic and paper records, and independent on-farm assessments.
We respect the rights of our farmers to make decisions about their own farm business. As a Co-operative, we need farms supplying milk to Fonterra to support our collective business to be successful too – this means meeting our Terms of Supply.
All farms that supply Fonterra must agree to and meet our Terms of Supply. Consequences for failure to meet these terms are outlined in section 1.4 of the Terms of Supply Handbook.
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