Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007

Many in the Committee will know that I rear sheep and cattle, and I have the occasional horse and some chickens, but they are all situated in Scotland and are not exactly subject to the regulations. I have an interest in how this is seen. I am very grateful to the Minister for the way in which he laid out the relevance of the Animal Welfare Act to the whole question of animals and then how the regulations will fit in underneath that. There are certain slightly grey areas about the animals to which the regulations will apply. I am sure that the Minister can confirm that they will apply to hobby farms—which are becoming more prevalent across the country—and possibly to the house cow, which is becoming less prevalent but still raises some issues, which I will come to later. They probably do not apply to the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig or the pet rabbit, both of which may end up in the pot at the end of the day, but probably could be said are not being produced for food as such. The Minister is generally very good at clarifying that enforcement will show some reasonableness, but unfortunately we are not in our convention able to require the Government to amend any of the regulations. There are three areas on which I express some unease and possibly a feeling that things could have been worded a little differently. First, Schedule 1(5) to the regulations says: "““Any animals … ill or injured must be cared for … without delay””." Obviously, if you are going around your animals and you see one that is being strangled or is about to expire for some reason, you do act without delay. If, on the other hand, you are going around feeding your animals and you see one that is lame, you are probably better to finish feeding all the other animals, who will be charging around waiting for their food. There are reasons for not doing it instantaneously. In some ways, it would have been handy if it could have said that it was ““without unnecessary delay””. Similarly, on Regulation 6, which states, "““Where necessary, sick or injured animals must be isolated””," there is a problem with recumbent animals. Perhaps the vet should have power to give a derogation if the recumbent animal is in a place that makes it very difficult or impossible to isolate it. The standard really bad situation is when a cow goes down in a cubicle. Obviously, you could shut off the whole cubicle shed, but it might be difficult for access to animals. There may be ways in which you might be prevented from isolating the animal, although you could protect it in some way. Regulation 9 states that animals, "““must not be restricted in such a way as to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury””," and Regulation 29 states that they, "““can be kept without any detrimental effect on their health and welfare””." The Minister may have covered this in what he said about the regulation on mutilations, but it strikes me that someone being particularly pedantic might object to the fact that you were clipping the wings of turkeys or other poultry which are kept in open areas. Again, that comes back to game birds, which were raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller. In the younger stages, they have to have their wings clipped. Whether it injures or harms the animals is no doubt a question that lawyers would like to get into. Regulation 1 of Schedule 6 states: "““No calf may be confined in an individual stall … after the age of eight weeks””." Within the definition, that means a calf between the age of eight weeks and six months. This is where I come back to the house cow. There might be hill farmers or other small farmers again who have just one cow with one calf. If the farmer were strictly to obey the meaning of the wording of the regulation, when the calf reaches eight weeks’ old, he would either have to go out and buy another one or sell the one that he had; otherwise, it would be kept in isolation. On health issues, treatments are offered by farmers which are not directly instructed or certified by vets. It is just possible that a farmer might want to isolate the animal without having to call in a vet in order to do so. My final point probably can be covered by a bit of clarification. Regulation 1 of Schedule 7 states that all cattle must have, "““a well-drained and bedded lying area””." That needs careful interpretation for dairy cows. Straw-bedded cubicles have been found to increase the level of mastitis and they are probably better off without bedding. The cubicle certainly would be a dry area, but it might not necessarily need bedding. Under the strict interpretation of this order, it looks like something would have to be provided. I would be grateful to hear what the Minister can tell us on those points.