Bobby calves: still too hot to handle?

On Friday 28 October, Federal Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig will be in Melbourne to meet with the Agriculture Ministers from around the country. It will be the first meeting of the new ‘Standing Council on Primary Industries’.

High on their agenda will be issuing a ‘hurry up’ to the officials working on the new national animal welfare laws. After the pointed comments from Bill Farmer, the pressure will now be on to get those laws into place as quickly as possible.

Ministers will also be asked to make the final ruling on the time-off-feed limit for bobby calves.

The issue was given to bureaucrats for consideration in September, but they seem to have decided that it was too hot to handle and sent it ‘upstairs’ to their Ministers.

We hear that the official agenda paper may no longer be limited to just recommending a 30 hour limit, which we’ve supported and which Dairy Australia has fought hard to secure. Other options may now be on the table.

We’ve expressed our views, yet again, this week. It will be interesting to see if the Ministers can reach a conclusion, and whether they can produce a nationally uniform outcome.

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