Proposed Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Cattle

4.3.5 Variation C1: (variation of proposed national standard S6.8)

Variation C1 would be a variation of the proposed national standards (Option B) that would amend proposed standard 6.8, requiring pain relief for all spaying.

Unquantifiable incremental net benefits of Variation C1 (Criterion I - animal welfare)
Variation C1 would lead to greater animal welfare outcomes than Option B in relation to the ‘base case’, as it would require pain relief for all spaying. That is to say Variation C1 would provide all the welfare gains under Option B but with additional cattle obtaining pain relief over and above just those involved in flank spaying or webbing. Under Variation C1 cattle involved with DOT spaying would also receive pain relief. The main welfare gain is the reduction in pain from the procedure of spaying in the short term; and this is likely to be the largest reduction in pain and welfare impact experienced amongst Option B and the Variations. There are a limited number of analgesic drugs registered for use in cattle¹¹³. Ketoprofen (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) appears to be a successful drug in abolishing the short to medium term pain response. Another more recent report has confirmed that flank and DOT spaying should not be conducted without measures to manage the associated pain and stress¹¹⁴. Variation C1 would improve the welfare for an additional estimated 325,517¹¹⁵ heifers and cows, with the majority of these animals coming from QLD. That is to say, as compared to Option B, Variation C1 would provide an additional benefit to cows that are DOT spayed (i.e.). Other welfare benefits under Variation C1 would be identical to Option B.
Unquantifiable incremental net benefits of Variation C1 (Criterion II – reduced regulatory burden)
Variation C1 would result in the same reduction in regulatory burden as Option B.
Quantifiable and unquantifiable incremental net costs of Variation C1 (Criterion III – compliance costs)
Variation C1 (of Option B) would impose incremental costs of approximately $61.64m over 10 years in 2012-13 dollars¹¹⁶, as summarised in Table 22. The costs would be mainly attributable to the cost of pain relief¹¹⁷ when either dehorning cattle under certain circumstances; or when performing all spaying¹¹⁸ of cattle, under proposed national standards S6.4 and the variation of S6.8, respectively. These two incremental costs would amount to approximately $44.22m in 2012-13 dollars (see Table 22). As shown in Table 22, the most impacted state would be QLD with respect to both proposed national standard S6.4 and variation to proposed national standard S6.8, with an incremental cost of $35.76m in 2012-13 dollars. Proposed standards under Variation C1 (of Option B) are also likely to result in minor unquantifiable costs and cost savings as discussed in Part 4.3.2 of this RIS.
Table 22 – Quantifiable 10-year incremental cost of Variation C1 by state and territory – 2012-13 dollars (7% discount rate) ($m) ¹¹⁹

Proposed Standard	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	TAS	NT	ACT	TOTAL
5.4 (dog control)	$0.66	$0.39	$0.47	$0.11	$0.11	$0.06	$0.01	$0.00	$1.81
5.5 (dog muzzling)	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
5.6 (tethering and exercise)	$2.02	$0.23	$0.20	$0.19	$0.22	$0.26	$0.00	$0.00	$3.13
5.7 (Electro-immobilisation training)	-$0.20	$0.02	$0.07	$0.01	$0.01	-$0.02	$0.01	$0.00	-$0.11
6.2 (Castration with pain relief)	$0.00	$0.43	$1.41	$0.00	$0.27	$0.00	$0.20	$0.00	$2.31
6.4 (Dehorning with pain relief)	$1.76	$1.41	$2.86	$0.00	$0.57	$0.00	$0.41	$0.00	$7.02
6.7 (Spaying training)	$0.00	$0.00	$2.74	$0.00	$0.12	$0.00	$0.23	$0.00	$3.11
6.8 (pain relief for all spaying)	$0.00	$0.00	$32.89	$0.00	$1.42	$0.00	$2.88	$0.00	$37.20
6.9 (Banning use of spreaders)	$0.00	$0.00	$0.50	$0.00	$0.02	$0.00	$0.04	$0.00	$0.56
7.2 (Inspection of calving cows)	$0.63	$0.63	$0.71	$0.25	$0.12	$0.14	$0.08	$0.00	$2.56
8.4 (calf feeding requirements)	$0.13	$0.00	$0.06	$0.06	$0.04	$0.12	$0.00	$0.00	$0.41
9.2 (Heat stress management in dairy cattle)	$0.13	$0.72	$0.09	$0.04	$0.03	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1.01
9.3 (Banning tail docking unless for welfare reasons)	$0.00	$0.02	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.01	$0.00	$0.00	$0.03
10.2 (Keeping records of feed quality)	$0.01	$0.00	$0.02	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.04
10.4 (Heat emergency requirements)	$0.09	$0.05	$0.21	$0.02	$0.04	$0.01	$0.02	$0.00	$0.43
11.5 (Banning of blunt force trauma killing of calves >24hrs of age)	$0.23	$1.42	$0.17	$0.08	$0.06	$0.16	$0.00	$0.00	$2.12
Total PV	$5.46	$5.32	$42.40	$0.77	$3.03	$0.74	$3.90	$0.01	$61.64

Table 23 gives the average net cost impact per cow ranging from a cost of $0.64 in SA to a cost of $3.38 in QLD.

Table 23 – Range of average 10-year cost per cow as a result of Variation C1 by state and territory – 2012-13 dollars¹²⁰

	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	TAS	NT	ACT	TOTAL
Total ($m)	$5.46	$5.32	$42.40	$0.77	$3.03	$0.74	$3.90	$0.01	$61.64
Total beef and dairy herd (m)	5.58	3.39	12.54	1.20	2.01	0.61	2.20	0.01	27.54
Cost per cow	$0.98	$1.57	$3.38	$0.64	$1.51	$1.21	$1.77	$0.86	$2.24

Note: Care should be taken in using the average cost per cow in a jurisdiction to interpret the impact of standards or variations on a particular industry sector or an individual farmer’s herd.

Public consultation question 7: Do you believe that the benefits achieved under Variation C1 of Option B, including welfare benefits of pain relief with spaying and reduction in excess regulatory burden, are justified?