Memorandum submitted by the Grazing Animals
Project
I am writing to you as Chair of the Grazing
Animals Project (GAP), a partnership of over 20 organisations
with representatives from the major voluntary and statutory nature
conservation organisations and from the related livestock industry.
We welcome this opportunity to contribute to this consultation.
Nothing in this submission overrides any individual submissions
that any of these organisations may make to you.
This submission intends to make the committee
aware of the objectives of conservation grazing and the special
considerations in terms of welfare that may arise from these livestock
systems.
The focus of GAP is to work closely with land
managers to resolve problems arising in the grazing of nature
conservation land and this has included the crucial issue of ensuring
high standards of welfare for animals grazing wildlife sites.
In 2001 GAP launched its "Guide to Animal Welfare in Nature
Conservation Grazing" which was developed in association
with various animal welfare organisations throughout the British
Isles. Conservation land managers now widely follow the Code which
recommends implementation of a risk assessment and is based on
the "five animal freedoms". This has been widely recognised
as instrumental in eliminating inappropriate livestock management
on nature conservation sites.
The purpose of writing now is to raise your
awareness of the following points related to extensive nature
conservation grazing systems which are used to deliver Government
targets on biodiversity, landscape and public access:
1. THE EXTENT
OF THE
NATURE CONSERVATION
GRAZING SECTOR
The amount of land subject to grazing for wildlife
objectives steadily increased during the last century. The land
area further increased as various support measures were developed,
notably through agri-environment schemes such as Environmentally
Sensitive Areas and Countryside Stewardship Schemes. More recently
the Government's implementation of Biodiversity Action Plans and
the setting of Public Service Agreement targets for Sites of Special
Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserves and other designated
wildlife sites have given further impetus to the amount of land
needing to be grazed for wildlife, landscape and public access
objectives.
2. CURRENT SOURCING
AND MANAGEMENT
OF LIVESTOCK
There are two primary sources of livestock—of
equal importance—but which often overlap.
— Those provided and utilised within
the livestock farming sector as part of standard farming practice.
The welfare standards for these animals currently come under the
farming livestock codes which we understand will be endorsed under
the proposed Act.
— Those animals provided by, or made
available to, conservation organisations for extensive grazing
schemes on wildlife and countryside sites. These are increasingly
animals derived from native adapted breeds with hardy attributes
ideal for the grazing of lower quality herbage found on such sites.
The welfare standards for these animals are now often set and
derived from the GAP Code which takes account of the particular
conditions found on such sites. The Code is judged not only to
provide "best practice" to as high a standard as the
farm livestock codes, but just as importantly be more appropriate
to the conditions prevailing on extensive grazing systems.
3. FUTURE DELIVERY
OF BIODIVERSITY,
PSA, LANDSCAPE AND
PUBLIC ACCESS
TARGETS BY
EXTENSIVE GRAZING
SYSTEMS:
GAP has recently been involved in the debate
about the need for further development and implementation of extensive
grazing schemes if Government targets are to be fully implemented.
GAP has therefore initiated re-convening of its Animal Welfare
Working Group to consider and update its Conservation Welfare
Code to take account of new issues that have arisen. For example:
— How best to manage the welfare of
animals that are grazing large areas of land being proposed for
restoration for public access, landscape and nature conservation.
— The development and selection of
breeds and genetic lines for different grazing systems.
— To support and help maintain important
attributes of our adapted and rarer livestock breeds by utilising
them on grazings that maintain their characteristics.
— The importance of animal group/social
group dynamics in free ranging systems. This would support the
work of welfare organisations (eg NEWC and RSPCA) in investigating
and trying to recommend management techniques that reduce or eliminate
stress behaviour in domesticated animals (particularly equines).
— The distinction between wild and
non-wild grazing animals and related animal welfare issues.
— The benefits or dis-benefits of using
"introduced" species and breeds of grazing animals.
— The utilisation of herbage by free
roaming animals.
Crucially, grazing large or complex areas requires
animals to make more choices for themselves than those grazing
relatively confined or uniform areas such as a grass ley. As keepers
of stock, giving animals more choices does not free us from responsibility,
but rather, places an additional duty of care upon us to ensure
that we consider all of their needs. It becomes of paramount importance
that we develop individualised grazing systems that suit both
the welfare of the animals and the particular conservation requirements
of the site. The breed, background and management of animals on
such sites all become important choices, and the system that works
well for stock grazing a large grass, heath and woodland mosaic,
is far removed from that which is suitable for a grass ley.
4. THE DRAFT
ANIMAL WELFARE
BILL AND
CONSERVATION GRAZING—A
WAY FORWARDS?
Having explored the issues above in the light
of the Draft Bill we would ask the Committee to take account of
the needs of conservation grazing systems. We suggest that the
Bill allows for a Code of Conduct for "extensive grazing
systems" to be developed (in consultation with GAP) and adopted
at a later date.
In the meantime we will continue our work through
the GAP Conservation Working Group, which re-convenes for its
first meeting on 30 September. The Working Group does include
representatives from a wide range of organisations with an interest
in animal welfare and extensive conservation grazing management—for
example RSPCA, SSPCA, USPCA, NEWC, BBSRC, UFAW, Defra, Bristol
School of Veterinary Science (Prof John Webster as the five freedoms
author), NT, GAP organisations.
The work would initially be to update and expand
GAP's Code, but with the longer term possibility of it forming
the basis of a Code of Practice for "extensive grazing systems"
approved under the Act. This suggestion has been passed across
the Defra representative on our Working Group (Graham Thurlow)
who thought it was worthy of further consideration as a pragmatic
and efficient use of an existing resource.
24 August 2004
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