Vendor Declarations For Store Stock Essential

Vendor Declarations For Store Stock Still Essential: NZMFP

Chairman of Federated Farmers' New Zealand Meat and Fibre Producers, Chris Lester, said today that purchasers of store cattle should immediately demanding National Vendor Declarations on any livestock purchased from now on for their own protection.

"Purchasers of store stock would be ill-advised to purchase livestock for further fattening without appropriate vender declarations," said Mr Lester.

Farmers wanting to send cattle to slaughter after 1 December could be unable to find buyers, if the farmers were unable to provide the required animal health declaration in good faith.

"Unless the purchasers of store stock insist on receiving relevant information from vendors, they are likely to find that they are unable to provide the required assurances when they come to sell those animals to their processing company."

Where farmers cannot provide the necessary declarations, their stock will be excluded from some high value markets.

"We are extremely pleased to see some industry participants developing similar declarations for animals moving between farms and saleyards. This is the only way that the integrity of the declaration system can succeed for those animals 'sold on' to finishing farms by store stock producers."

Declarations providing animal status assurances for cattle and deer sent for slaughter will be required from 1 December 1999. This declaration will cover growth promotants, veterinary medicines, animal remedies and Johne's Disease vaccinations.

Some meat processing companies intend to incorporate the current Tb declaration requirement in the same declaration form. Similar declarations (minus the Tb requirement) will be introduced for sheep, goats, horses and pigs from 1 October 2000.

"The commercial reality is that producers of prime stock will inevitably require store stock vendors to provide relevant information before transactions are confirmed," said Mr Lester.

Federated Farmers agree with the principle of the Vendor Declaration Scheme and strongly supports the Stock and Station Association in their efforts to ensure that store stock purchasers can access the necessary information, enabling the provision of slaughter declarations.

ENDS

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