GFA Responds to FAWC Gamebird Opinion
13 November 2008
The Game Farmers’ Association (GFA) has given an unreserved welcome to an important Opinion on gamebird rearing published today by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). The GFA said:
“This is the first proper independent look at UK game rearing practice and its conclusions echo those of our own Association in the year 1999 when, following a comprehensive internal review, the GFA Code of Practice was first published.
“We have always believed that the welfare of birds is paramount, not just for their own good but for sound commercial reasons as well. Policy on game rearing should always be based on evidence and the advice of veterinary and welfare experts, not on raw emotion.
“We accept all 16 recommendations made in this Opinion by FAWC and note that several of them effectively call on Government to include in its forthcoming Code of Practice for the Welfare of Farmed Gamebirds the existing policies of our Association.
“GFA members have high standards and no-one who has been following our Code of Practice can have any quarrel with these 16 recommendations from FAWC.
“We encourage Defra to include all the relevant recommendations of FAWC within its forthcoming Government Code of Practice for the Welfare of Farmed Gamebirds. We also look forward to working with other stakeholders towards the achievement of FAWC’s remaining recommendations.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The GFA is the representative body for game farmers in the UK. It has around 300 members and published a detailed Code of Practice in 1999.
- A full list of FAWC’s 16 recommendations and the GFA’s comments on each of them appears below.
- The Government commissioned the FAWC enquiry in 2006. The GFA assisted with the arrangement of visits by the FAWC enquiry team to several members’ game farms and also provided written and oral evidence to the enquiry.
- The GFA Code of Practice and the Association’s supplementary policy on raised laying units can be found via the main menu on this website.
The FAWC Recommendations and
the GFA’s Comments
(NOTE: The paragraph numbers shown below are those used in the FAWC Opinion, which makes a total of 16 recommendations, all of them listed here in full).
58. FAWC Recommendation: Gamebirds are captive wild animals. FAWC believes that pheasants and partridges should be kept in breeding and rearing systems that meet their physical and behavioural needs. Research is required to define and cater for these needs.
GFA Comment: The GFA agrees. Game rearing has evolved over many decades in pursuit of best practice and standards on game farms are generally very high, but new information is always welcome. The GFA has been involved in research in the past and looks forward to more scientific work on the welfare of gamebirds in the future.
59. FAWC Recommendation: The Defra Code of Practice on the Welfare of Farmed Gamebirds currently in preparation should highlight the need for better surveillance of mortality, disease, breeding performance and other welfare measures as appropriate such as feather cover. Records of health and welfare should be kept. Industry, in cooperation with Government, should be encouraged to collate this information to assist benchmarking and to guide improvements in health, welfare and performance, including demonstration of best practice.
GFA Comment: The GFA has long campaigned for good surveillance and record keeping and the use of such records as feedback in the continual drive for best possible practice. The voluntary Poultry Health Scheme provides a good model which some of our members already follow. The GFA Code requires that records are kept for a minimum of twelve months. Developments in this area must take account of differing rearing systems.
60. FAWC Recommendation: Compliance with best practice as outlined by the new Welfare Code should be closely monitored and audited, and where deficiencies are identified improvements should be a condition of retention within an industry association.
GFA Comment: The GFA suggested to Defra some time ago that the state veterinary service, Animal Health, should have the power to inspect game farms, as they already do other livestock enterprises. In a poll of GFA members, 92% said they would welcome such inspections as a means of ensuring high standards and of showing they had nothing to hide. The GFA already has authority to expel from membership anyone deemed to have brought the profession or the Association into disrepute. Fortunately this power has rarely had to be used but in cases of serious neglect or wilful breach of the GFA Code, it has been.
61. FAWC Recommendation: Government should recommend the use of a farm health and welfare plan, which should be developed in consultation with the farmer’s veterinary surgeon. Plans should be reviewed regularly and clearly justify management devices, such as bits or brailles.
GFA Comment: Farm health planning is an excellent means of improving standards and the GFA has long urged game farmers to adopt such plans. At national level we are enthusiastic members of the Defra’s Farm Health Planning initiative and also involved in the Poultry Health and Welfare Strategy, which strongly supports the concept of farm health planning.
62. FAWC Recommendation: The use of management devices that do not allow birds to express their full range of normal behaviours must not be considered as routine. All stakeholders should work towards the ideal of management systems that do not require these devices. Their use should be avoided wherever possible and, in any event, be justified on an enterprise by enterprise basis.
GFA Comment: The GFA agrees. The existing GFA Code already requires that management devices, such as Bumpa-bits, “should only be used in response to a specific need and then only with particular care.” The ideal that FAWC refers to may be hard to reach in practice because of the natural aggression that gamebirds exhibit. Current best practice is the result of honing techniques over many years and may be hard to better. FAWC’s aspiration is commendable nonetheless.
63. FAWC Recommendation: Spectacles should not be used. If industry does not heed this recommendation, then Government should act to ban their use within three years from the publication of this Opinion.
GFA Comment: The GFA Code has since 1999 said that “spectacles should be avoided wherever possible” and most game farmers don’t use them. Recent research has suggested that even the clip on types can cause damage to the nasal septum and their use may therefore already risk prosecution under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
64. FAWC Recommendation: Research is required into the effects of Bumpa-bits on the health and welfare of pheasants.
GFA Comment: The GFA agrees and has already suggested to Government that such research be included in the gamebird contracts Defra currently has out for tender.
65. FAWC Recommendation: Brailles for pheasants should only be used in open pens, where there is strong evidence that otherwise birds would be lost from these pens.
GFA Comment: Generally brailles have only ever been used in large open pens. The GFA Code clearly states that, “Any braille must be removed before release.”
66. FAWC Recommendation: Small plastic bits may currently continue to be used in young pheasants for short periods (3 to 7 weeks) to avoid injurious behaviour as long as that use is justified and closely monitored on an enterprise by enterprise basis. Bits must be appropriate to the size and age of the bird and fitted only by trained and experienced stockmen. The justification for their use must be clearly stated in the health and welfare plan.
GFA Comment: The GFA believes that the ability to use such bits will always be an essential requirement in the farming of naturally aggressive gamebirds. Recent Government-funded research shows the use of bits to be preferable to the alternative of feather pecking. The GFA Code already makes the point that any bits must always be of the right size and type for the bird and must be fitted and removed with care.
67. FAWC Recommendation: Beak trimming should not be practised in gamebirds.
GFA Comment: Beak trimming is very seldom practised in gamebirds and should not be necessary providing the use of bits is allowed for the management of naturally aggressive behaviour. Our understanding is that beak trimming of gamebirds will be banned in any case throughout Europe in 2012.
68. FAWC Recommendation: Barren raised cages for pheasants should not be used. If industry does not phase out barren cages then Government should act to ban them within five years from the publication of this Opinion.
GFA Comment: It has been GFA policy since 2004 that barren cages must not be used. Our clear advice since that time has been that any raised laying units must always be enriched to meet the birds’ physical and behavioural needs. The GFA policy remains that, “Well-run, traditional outdoor egg laying systems are the preferred route for fertile pheasant egg production in the UK, because they are tried and tested.”
69. FAWC Recommendation: Research proposed by Government on the design of accommodation for pheasants that meets their physical and behavioural needs should be progressed quickly and thoroughly.
GFA Comment: The GFA agrees and has already offered Defra its full co-operation.
70. FAWC Recommendation: Small, barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used, particularly to house birds continuously for three years. Further research is needed into the design of improved accommodation for partridges, into larger systems and into over-wintering in larger groups, to enable a fuller and more effective expression of normal behaviours. If industry does not phase out barren cages then Government should act to ban them within five years from the publication of this Opinion.
GFA Comment: It has been GFA policy since 2004 that barren cages must not be used for partridges. Our clear advice since that time has been that any raised laying units must be enriched to meet the birds’ physical and behavioural needs. Our policy states that where partridges are to be retained in raised units for more than one season, the units used must be at least twice the size of the small ones sometimes available commercially. We would be pleased to assist with the suggested research.
71. FAWC Recommendation: Game farmers purchasing hatching eggs or day-olds from abroad should satisfy themselves that the health and welfare of the breeding stock meet the standards required in Great Britain. The standards required in Great Britain should be incorporated in the Codes of Practice and promoted between all stakeholders in the industry.
GFA Comment: Neither game farmers nor the Government can control what happens abroad. However, many overseas game farms exist largely to supply the UK market and if they are to meet changing customer preferences in future some may need to adjust their gamebird management to ensure their standards meet those required in Great Britain. In particular we would like to see overseas producers enrich all their raised laying units.
72. FAWC Recommendation: Further research should be carried out into the requirements for the support and adaptation for gamebirds during and after release.
GFA Comment: Research into gamebird release has a long history and the process is well understood. This therefore seems a relatively low priority but as more knowledge is always a good thing, the GFA supports the recommendation.
FAWC Recommendation 73: When formulating its next work plan, FAWC should consider undertaking a major investigation of the welfare of farmed gamebirds so that this topic can be investigated further in the light of progress made following this Opinion.
GFA Comment: The GFA has been pleased to co-operate fully with the recent FAWC enquiry, welcomes this Opinion and would certainly be pleased to assist in anyfuture re-examination of the industry.
GFA Conclusion:
Game farming depends and has always depended on the production of quality birds with a high standard of health and welfare. Our members are proud of what they do and have nothing to hide. The GFA is encouraged that the FAWC Opinion, which is the first proper independent look at the industry, very much echoes the approach outlined in our existing Code of Practice. We look forward to working with other stakeholders towards full implementation of all FAWC’s recommendations.
Date Added: November 13th 2008