Proposed Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Cattle

A2.3 Standard 5.5 – Muzzling of dogs used to move calves under 30 days old

The acceptable use of dogs for handling and mustering of young cattle is an important issue for the cattle industry in the context of cattle training. Early training programs greatly facilitate the later handling of adult cattle and result in less stress to stockpersons and cattle. However for the management of calves less than 30 days old the use of dogs is largely a dairy industry issue and largely restricted to their use with replacement female calves.

According to proposed Standard 5.5, a person in charge must ensure a dog is muzzled when moving calves less than 30 days old that is without its mother.
The number of dogs assumed is 1 per farm (on average) involved in beef cattle and dairy cattle farming¹⁷³, but not every farm would work calves with that dog. The number of beef and dairy cattle farms per state and territory is summarised in Table A.1 and is estimated to be around 74,477¹⁷⁴ and 6,883¹⁷⁵ farms, respectively, across Australia. All dairy farms are considered to be affected and only 1% of cattle farms.
Assuming 0.5 dogs per farm used on calves, accept for Victoria where the use of dogs on calves is not permitted¹⁷⁶, then this would leave the population of relevant dogs affected as:

• 
  1% x beef cattle farms (excluding Victoria) x 0.5 dogs per farm used on calves; and
  
• 
  100% x of dairy cattle farms (excluding Victoria) x 0.5 dogs per farm used on calves.
  

Furthermore, it is assumed for the purpose of estimation that the proportion of dogs currently muzzled either because they are prone to biting or because of market forces¹⁷⁷, is currently 95%. Incremental costs are assumed to be around $30¹⁷⁸ per muzzle per dog. Also muzzles are likely to be purchased only once and reused from dog to dog. However, this may be an underestimate as some cattle dogs may need to have their muzzles replaced over their lifetimes.

As shown in Table A2.3, the one-off cost of muzzling dogs under proposed Standard 5.5, is estimated to be approximately $2,160 in 2014-15 or $1,886 in 2012-13 present value dollars.
Public consultation question 15: Do you know the number or percentage of dogs requiring muzzling proposed standard S5.5, or any information to improve the estimation of costs?
Table A2.3 – One-off incremental cost of muzzles for beef cattle and dairy cattle dogs as required under Standard 5.5 –2012-13 dollars

Jurisdiction	No. Beef and dairy farm dogs affected (p)=(j)*1%*50%+(i)*100%*50%	% not muzzled (q)=(k)*5%	Muzzle cost per dog (r)	One-off cost (s)= (q)*(r)
NSW	539	27	$30	$809
VIC	0	0	$30	$0
QLD	394	20	$30	$590
SA	166	8	$30	$249
WA	108	5	$30	$161
TAS	232	12	$30	$347
NT	1	0	$30	$2
ACT	0	0	$30	$0
Australia	1,440	72	$30	$2,160
Present value 7% discount rate				$1,886
3% discount rate				$2,036
10% discount rate				$1,785