Proposed Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Cattle

A2.18 Standard 10.2 – Keeping records of feed quantity

The Australian Lot Feeders Association has recognised this as an important cattle welfare management tool in feedlots. The development of a standard will extend this practice to all Australian feedlots including non-accredited operations not in the National Feedlot Accreditation scheme (NFAS) for better welfare risk management. This is a recurring issue for several aspects of feedlot management.

Under proposed Standard 10.2, a person in charge must ensure the diet composition and quantities are fed are recorded and records maintained for the duration of the feeding period of each group of cattle. It is estimated that it would take an additional 30 seconds per day to examine feed characteristics and quantity and make note of it by farmhands working in feedlots. According to the Australian Lot Feeders' Association (ALFA), there are 450 accredited feedlots in Australia with the majority located in southeast QLD; the northern tablelands of NSW and the Riverina area of NSW with expanding numbers in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia²³⁵. Membership with ALFA represents over 90% of Australian feedlot capacity. Feedlot locations by postcode are shown below:

Source: http://www.anra.gov.au/topics/agriculture/beef/index.html

The pro-rata estimates for the number of accredited feedlot farmhands affected by state and territory in Table A2.20 is based on the number of farmhands in the beef cattle industry (i.e. 45,534²³⁶) and the total number of accredited feedlots (i.e. 450). Also it assumed that there would be one responsible person per feedlot making records.
Furthermore, there are approximately 160 unaccredited feedlots in Victoria²³⁷. According to ALFA, the total number of feedlots who are not in the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS) remains unknown. However according to ALFA, the vast majority of such feedlots would be small, opportunistic operations, which only operate during periods of grass shortage or market opportunity. Total pro-rata estimates for the number of unaccredited feedlot farmhands affected by state and territory is based on the ratio of unaccredited feedlots in Victoria to accredited feedlots in Victoria (i.e. 161:41 = 3.9:1). As shown in Table A2.20, the number of unaccredited feedlots in Australia is estimated to be 1,762.

Public consultation question 29: Do you know the number or percentage of cattle that are adversely affected by poor diet in feedlots? Do you have any other information to improve the estimation of costs under the proposed standard S10.2?

Public consultation question 30: Do you know the number or percentage of feedlots affected under proposed standard 10.2 for feed record keeping or any information to improve the estimation of costs?

Table A2.20 – The estimated number of feedlot farmhands (accredited and non-accredited feed lots) by state and territory

Jurisdiction__No._accredited_feedlot_farmhands_affected__(t2)_=_(z)__238_/'>Jurisdiction	No. accredited feedlot farmhands affected (t2) = (z)^238/ 45,534*450	Estimated No. non-accredited feedlot farmhands affected (apart from VIC) (t3) = (t2)*161/41	Total estimated number of feedlot farmhands (t4) = (t3)+(t2)
NSW	93	366	459
VIC	41	161	202
QLD	216	846	1,062
SA	19	75	95
WA	34	133	167
TAS	8	32	40
NT	38	149	187
ACT	0	1	1
Australia__450__1,762'>Australia	450	1,762	2,212

As shown in Table A2.21, the 10-year incremental cost of keeping records of feed quantity would be approximately $67,278 or $44,162 in 2012-13 present value dollars.

Table A2.21 – 10-year incremental cost of keeping records of feed quantity by state and territory under Standard 10.2 –2012-13 dollars

Jurisdiction	Estimated no. feedlot farmhands affected (t4)^239	Annual record keeping cost (u2) = (t4)*30/3600*(h)^240*365	10-year cost (v2)=(u2)*10
NSW	459	$1,397	$13,966
VIC	202	$614	$6,137
QLD	1,062	$3,229	$32,294
SA	95	$288	$2,878
WA	167	$507	$5,070
TAS	40	$121	$1,210
NT	187	$570	$5,700
ACT	1	$2	$23
Australia	2,212	$6,728	$67,278
Present value 7% discount rate			$44,162
3% discount rate			$55,718
10% discount rate			$37,581