IT'S been one year since animal cruelty allegations were raised on one of Canada's biggest dairy farms, and this week global dairy giant Saputo has reacted with new animal welfare guidelines.
Footage surfaced in mid-2014 of animal cruelty and torture which had been filmed at Chilliwack Cattle Sales (CCS), where 3500 cows were milked an hour from Vancouver. The case sparked global outrage and the footage was widely publicised.
The farm supplied milk to Saputo and the company's chief executive officer (CEO) Lino Saputo Junior admitted at the time he was shaken by the incident - and that more leadership was needed in the industry to improve the issue.
Saputo's new guidelines are now loud and clear.
If reliable evidence suggests animal cruelty has occurred on a farm, the company will immediately suspend milk supply.
Warrnambool Cheese & Butter suppliers are now required to follow these strict animal welfare guidelines, announced by its parent company this week, which will be enforced across all of its global operations.
The guidelines call for a "zero tolerance" stance towards animal cruelty, with the policy stating this included "wilful mistreatment and neglect of animals and acts that maliciously cause pain, injury or suffering".
The new policy also states suppliers need to eliminate routine management practices that cause pain, including tail docking, while the use of pain control when dehorning must also become an industry standard.
If any evidence suggests on-farm cruelty, has occurred Saputo states it will suspend milk collection until the case has been investigated.
An on-farm audit will then be conducted by a third party auditor to assess whether the producers is complying with recognised standards or codes of practice, with a timeline put in place to bring practices up to standard.
Suppliers in Australia must comply with the Australian Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Cattle, distributed to farmers via processors last year.
While the Australian guidelines have been approved by industry, the ministerial endorsement is yet to get over the line.
Peak dairy lobby group, Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) president Noel Campbell said New South Wales was the only state that has not agreed to the policy.
"As an industry, what we have in place in terms of animal welfare is adequate," he said. "Obviously, this is a key issue for livestock generally and it will continue to be so."
In response to the news about Saputo's new guidelines, he said the company had the right to share its opinion with suppliers.
Saputo's calls to eradicate tail docking were in line with the Australian standards, which state this practice must only take place on veterinary advice or to treat injury or disease.
"We've requested that to be put in place already," he said.
"We are hoping the new guidelines get over the line soon. We are waiting for that to happen, because we can't move forward until then."
In the meantime, Mr Campbell said the practices on Australian dairy farms were acceptable.
"Having healthy livestock is paramount in dairy farming," he said.
"And we are very conscious the community wants livestock standards to be strong."
However, South Gippsland dairy farmer and renowned blogger, Marian Macdonald said the issue required more than just putting acceptable standards in place.
"Doing the right thing is not good enough. You have to be seen to be doing right thing," she said.
"I'm grateful for what ADF is doing in terms of animal welfare; they are moving on the issue before the industry is forced to move."
But she said the dairy industry now needed to communicate the issue properly - to the public.
"Then if an act of animal cruelty occurs, the public knows we are going to take it very seriously," she said.
In terms of Saputo's recent movement on the issue, Ms Macdonald said this was a good example of this occurring.
"Their policy has been put in place in response to public outrage over a single incident, and that outrage was at a level that was obviously too much for them to bare," she said.
"We need to see what has happened around the world, because we not are immune from that.
"It's a case of who moves first. We are better off talking about it on our own terms, rather than in response to a crisis."
She said she had "ambivalent" feelings about a processor enforcing animal welfare regulations.
A post on her blog on the issue had generated divided opinions too.
"Some people have said if this is of marketing benefit to the processor, then they should carry some of the cost," she said.
"Others have raised the question: when is enough going to be enough? - and that farmers need to be paid more."
Ms Macdonald said she could empathise with those views.
"This is an issue that people don't like to raise," she said.
"Every farmer is proud of way they treat animals. Nobody wants to think the way they are treating their animal is not up to scratch.
"But, we've also got to be very aware of the scrutiny we are under."
She said the dairy industry needed to do more than just make policies on animal welfare.
"We need to let activists and the public know how progressive the industry is."
