When your livestock are grazing away from your property, your legal obligations as their owner under the Animal Welfare Act don’t go on holiday. It’s your duty to ensure their care meets the required standards, and that means staying actively involved in their well-being.
Here’s why regular checks and oversight are non-negotiable:
- Weighing and Monitoring
Insist that the grazier regularly weighs your animals and provides detailed reports. But don’t just rely on the numbers—attend these weighing sessions periodically to verify the accuracy of the data and get a firsthand look at your animals’ condition.
- Feed and Water
Livestock require enough feed to maintain good health and condition. Check that they have consistent access to high-quality, clean water to prevent dehydration and support overall well-being.
- Safe Surroundings
Ensure the grazing environment is safe, free from hazards, and appropriate for the type of stock being grazed. Unsafe conditions can lead to injuries, poor health, and stress for your animals.
- Signs of Illness or Injury
Early detection is key to preventing long-term issues. Look for signs of lameness or other health concerns. Timely treatment can make the difference between a full recovery and chronic problems like susceptibility to bone damage or ongoing mobility issues.
- Correct Handling
Observe how your animals are being handled. Poor handling practices can lead to stress, injuries, or behavioural issues. It’s your responsibility to ensure they’re treated with care and respect.
- Accountability
Don’t take a “set and forget” approach to sending livestock out for grazing. Visit them regularly to ensure the care described by the grazier matches the reality. This keeps the grazier accountable and ensures you’re meeting your obligations as an owner.
- Development of Young Stock
For young stock, this period is critical to their growth and development. Regular monitoring ensures they’re meeting weight targets, growing at a healthy pace, and building the foundation for a productive future.
Ultimately, livestock owners must remain hands-on, even when animals are in someone else’s care. Regular checks safeguard their well-being and ensure you’re compliant with the Animal Welfare Act. After all, your animals rely on you to advocate for their welfare, wherever they are.
There are defences to defamation, but they can be difficult and expensive to prove. We recommend getting legal advice before you publish because the defences are technical and can be difficult to prove.
Some of the key defences are:
Truth: you might know something is true, but actually proving it is a whole different matter. You also have to prove the truth of any defamatory implication that might be derived from your statement. It’s also worth keeping in mind that defamation law works on the presumption that the defamatory statement is false, so the onus is on you to prove.
Honest opinion: if you can show that what you have said is your honest opinion, then you might have a defence. Your statement must be recognisable as being an expression of an opinion. But, that honest opinion has to be based on true facts that the person reading your statement can use to assess the validity of the opinion for themselves. The defence can be destroyed if your opinion isn’t genuinely held by you or you made the statement for an improper purpose.
Responsible communication on a matter of public interest: there are two elements to this defence. First, you have to show that the communication was responsible. There are a lot of factors involved in showing this, including showing the steps you took to verify the allegation, the reliability of any source you’ve relied on, and whether you have sought comment from the target of your statement and accurately reported their response. Secondly, you need to show that you were commenting on a matter of public interest. This doesn’t mean something that is interesting (like gossip), but things of substantial concern that effect the welfare of citizens, for example, the management of publicly funded services by local councils.
Common law qualified privilege: this defence covers situations where you have a moral, social, or legal duty to communicate your statement and that the recipient of your statement has a corresponding interest in receiving that communication. A common situation covered by qualified privilege is when a prospective employer calls you for a reference for someone that they are thinking of employing. It is unlikely that you will be able to successfully rely on qualified privilege if your statement is published to the world at large – like in a public Facebook group.
Keep safe over the holiday season!
Joanne Dickson
