IT is disappointing to note the comments in recent letters concerning New Zealand lamb imports to Britain. We would like to point out the following.
We do recognise that Britain's animal welfare standards are among the highest in the world (Margie Currie's letter, February 9); in fact New Zealand's current animal welfare standards are based on Britain's but allow for New Zealand's more temperate climate.
There is a certain amount of misunderstanding about the ''natural care'' (also known as easy-care) system of extensive sheep production. This close-to-nature method suits our temperate climate and concentrates on producing animals best left to themselves.
It has been well thought-out and carefully and successfully implemented. The emphasis in this system is on the sheep's needs rather than the human's and focuses on easy lambing. The early years involved the selection of animals more suited to the system and flocks have now developed which are fitter and less stressed than animals in closely shepherded regimes.
Kiwi unsubsidised farmers, just like Britain's experienced and efficient producers, are well aware it is not in their interests to produce sub-standard or unhealthy stock.
Transport of animals (Helen Paterson's letter of February 13) is covered by a comprehensive code of practice in New Zealand. Forthcoming new animal welfare legislation will further strengthen its status allowing the law to adapt more easily in response to changing knowledge and community attitudes.
Finally, it is widely acknowledged that British retailers are among the best in the world. New Zealand producers and exporters, producing a complementary supply of lamb from the Southern Hemisphere, work with them to provide the consumer with a quality choice every time.
Buyers regularly visit their New Zealand suppliers to confirm for themselves that the quality and production standards meet, and sometimes go beyond, their commercial requirements for quality.
Although there was plenty of pressure from New Zealand farmers for us to capitalise on the BSE crisis in 1996, since New Zealand is BSE and scrapie-free, we chose not to for the long-term good of the market. We hope that, as producers, we are able to continue to work together to develop the market for quality lamb.
Laurie Bryant,
Regional Manager - Europe,
New Zealand Meat Producers' Board,
Rue de la Loi 99-101 Bte 3,
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium.
March 4.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article