March 13, 2025 • 6 mins
MPI's Director of Animal Welfare and Response responds to SAFE's "Mud Farming" claims in Southland.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You might remember last week on the Country, we chatted
to Emma Brody, a safe campaigner, took it to task
over her mud farming claims and the ambush attack ads
she was running on this show. Much to my annoyance,
we're going to get MPI to comment on this because
when we spoke to Emma she referenced MPI. Now here's
(00:21):
a wee taster of what she had to say last week,
just to remind you, But Emma, hang on ninety nine
percent of farmers in Southland, and I probably know a
lot more about this than you because I'm a born
and bred Southland. I was a sheep farmer. I've got
an interest in a dairy farm now. I spent a
lot of time in Southland and I can tell you
hand on heart, ninety nine percent of the farmers in
(00:43):
Southland or in southern New Zealand where they're wintering on
winter feed crops, are doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I totally acknowledge that some farmers are absolutely doing a
good job.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
No no, no, no, no, not some, And Emma, not some.
I said, ninety nine percent you're just cherry picking? Are
the bad? One percentage? Do you do the same for
people in towns who aren't feeding their cats and dogs properly.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, we feel that all animals have a right to
sufficient care and protection, and based on the well documented
evidence of harm on mud farms, that isn't what we're seeing.
And MPI are well aware of these risks. I'm sure
you know all about their Task Force and Action Group
who five years ago calls for the immediate prevention of
animals giving birth and mud avoidable deaths and adverse weather
(01:32):
and the ability for animals to lie comfortably on a
dry substrate. And five years later, these are still an
issue that we see year on year.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Okay, so there you go, Emma Brody. Let's get mpi's
side of the story. Joining us is Glenn Burrow. He
is mpi's Director of Animal Welfare. In response, Glen, have
you guys been sitting on your thumbs for five years
at MPI?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
No, certainly not. And together with the farmers in South
And we've seen real improvements over the last five years.
So the number of reports of concern or cases that
we've had coming in from the twenty one to twenty
four period has been slowly declining, and we've seen compliance
across the system improve we've seen some really good changes
(02:16):
in the behaviors of farmers, including changes to their systems,
thinking smarter, thinking, practically, using innovation, so they will see
some real lifts and good animal welfare outcomes across the system.
With regards to the ninety nine percent, Jamie, I can't
comment to the exact percentage, but what I can say
(02:36):
is when people do fall out of that ninety nine
percent or we will hold those two accounts that don't.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, well, I'm prone to exaggeration. Ninety nine that was
just because I was getting fired up with them. It
might be a bit of an exaggeration, but certainly I
would put the number in the high nineties. And honestly,
the winter grazing practices in Southland, and I was appalled
about fifteen years ago go driving around central south and
I won't name and shame the area, but seeing an
(03:04):
example of cows on a winter fighter crop up to
their hocks or up to their knees effectively in mud
right beside a waterway, all sorts of muck going in there.
You just don't see that anymore. And I'm all for
you guys at MPI throwing the book at the bad
apples but in any percentage of the population farmers and
(03:25):
otherwise there will be bad apples.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I totally agree. And what we've found is in our
proactive activity together with an industry and also environments south
and that there's been it's probably about ninety eight percent
of farms that were visited where there being no animal
welfare issues due to our proactive stuff. Our proactive activities
are a kind of intelligence led so we're looking for
things like mapping, weather forecasting, We're using our databases, local knowledge,
(03:52):
talking to people. So we're really focusing our activities on
where we can make a difference, where we can help
and support farmers into that best practice for better animal
welfare outcomes.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Okay, Glenn, if you're seeing examples of bad winter grazing management,
and they obviously happen more at the bottom end of
the country than the top for obvious reasons, you would
prefer that they go straight to MPI rather than to SAFE.
And in Safe's case, they always go public before they
send it to MPI, and I guess you know that's
(04:22):
their playbook.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I'm not going to comment to greatly about SAFE.
We do work with them. They are an animal rights charity.
Organization and advocacy group. We receive information from safe and
it's valuable. We receive information from farmers, from members of
the public, members of the community, and it's valuable. We
take every little bit of information on its own merits.
(04:45):
We assess it, and we triarge it and get if warranted,
we get people out behind the farm gate to provide
that support or to hold people to account.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Hey, Glen, one of the issues you've got, and I
know this firsthand, is that farmers don't necessarily like blowing
a whistle on their neighbors, especially if they might have
farmed side by side for three generations or something like that.
That is a bit of an issue.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, I guess that's a society issue when you look
across any types of law enforcement type things. What we're
trying to do there is it's part of their outreach
as well. So getting behind the farm gate we can
talk to people. We really encourage groups, industry groups, support
groups to feed their information back through to us. Coming
up this year, we're going to have dropping centers, We're
(05:33):
going to continue to farm visits, we're going to get
out flyers, and we've got a raft of internet resources
that people can go and use, as I said, together
with industry, stakeholders and community groups. So there's a lot
of support out there and I'd only encourage farmers to
talk to talk to each other and share those practices.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Good on you, hey, thanks for some of your time today,
Glenn Burrow out of MP. I appreciate it. And you know,
saye as trying to keep New Zealand farmers honest. New
Zealand farmers you need to keep safe honest. So good
winter grazing practices. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure, thank you, Jamie
You might remember last week on the Country, we chatted
to Emma Brody, a safe campaigner, took it to task
over her mud farming claims and the ambush attack ads
she was running on this show. Much to my annoyance,
we're going to get MPI to comment on this because
when we spoke to Emma she referenced MPI. Now here's
(00:21):
a wee taster of what she had to say last week,
just to remind you, But Emma, hang on ninety nine
percent of farmers in Southland, and I probably know a
lot more about this than you because I'm a born
and bred Southland. I was a sheep farmer. I've got
an interest in a dairy farm now. I spent a
lot of time in Southland and I can tell you
hand on heart, ninety nine percent of the farmers in
(00:43):
Southland or in southern New Zealand where they're wintering on
winter feed crops, are doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I totally acknowledge that some farmers are absolutely doing a
good job.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
No no, no, no, no, not some, And Emma, not some.
I said, ninety nine percent you're just cherry picking? Are
the bad? One percentage? Do you do the same for
people in towns who aren't feeding their cats and dogs properly.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, we feel that all animals have a right to
sufficient care and protection, and based on the well documented
evidence of harm on mud farms, that isn't what we're seeing.
And MPI are well aware of these risks. I'm sure
you know all about their Task Force and Action Group
who five years ago calls for the immediate prevention of
animals giving birth and mud avoidable deaths and adverse weather
(01:32):
and the ability for animals to lie comfortably on a
dry substrate. And five years later, these are still an
issue that we see year on year.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Okay, so there you go, Emma Brody. Let's get mpi's
side of the story. Joining us is Glenn Burrow. He
is mpi's Director of Animal Welfare. In response, Glen, have
you guys been sitting on your thumbs for five years
at MPI?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
No, certainly not. And together with the farmers in South
And we've seen real improvements over the last five years.
So the number of reports of concern or cases that
we've had coming in from the twenty one to twenty
four period has been slowly declining, and we've seen compliance
across the system improve we've seen some really good changes
(02:16):
in the behaviors of farmers, including changes to their systems,
thinking smarter, thinking, practically, using innovation, so they will see
some real lifts and good animal welfare outcomes across the system.
With regards to the ninety nine percent, Jamie, I can't
comment to the exact percentage, but what I can say
(02:36):
is when people do fall out of that ninety nine
percent or we will hold those two accounts that don't.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, well, I'm prone to exaggeration. Ninety nine that was
just because I was getting fired up with them. It
might be a bit of an exaggeration, but certainly I
would put the number in the high nineties. And honestly,
the winter grazing practices in Southland, and I was appalled
about fifteen years ago go driving around central south and
I won't name and shame the area, but seeing an
(03:04):
example of cows on a winter fighter crop up to
their hocks or up to their knees effectively in mud
right beside a waterway, all sorts of muck going in there.
You just don't see that anymore. And I'm all for
you guys at MPI throwing the book at the bad
apples but in any percentage of the population farmers and
(03:25):
otherwise there will be bad apples.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I totally agree. And what we've found is in our
proactive activity together with an industry and also environments south
and that there's been it's probably about ninety eight percent
of farms that were visited where there being no animal
welfare issues due to our proactive stuff. Our proactive activities
are a kind of intelligence led so we're looking for
things like mapping, weather forecasting, We're using our databases, local knowledge,
(03:52):
talking to people. So we're really focusing our activities on
where we can make a difference, where we can help
and support farmers into that best practice for better animal
welfare outcomes.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Okay, Glenn, if you're seeing examples of bad winter grazing management,
and they obviously happen more at the bottom end of
the country than the top for obvious reasons, you would
prefer that they go straight to MPI rather than to SAFE.
And in Safe's case, they always go public before they
send it to MPI, and I guess you know that's
(04:22):
their playbook.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I'm not going to comment to greatly about SAFE.
We do work with them. They are an animal rights charity.
Organization and advocacy group. We receive information from safe and
it's valuable. We receive information from farmers, from members of
the public, members of the community, and it's valuable. We
take every little bit of information on its own merits.
(04:45):
We assess it, and we triarge it and get if warranted,
we get people out behind the farm gate to provide
that support or to hold people to account.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Hey, Glen, one of the issues you've got, and I
know this firsthand, is that farmers don't necessarily like blowing
a whistle on their neighbors, especially if they might have
farmed side by side for three generations or something like that.
That is a bit of an issue.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, I guess that's a society issue when you look
across any types of law enforcement type things. What we're
trying to do there is it's part of their outreach
as well. So getting behind the farm gate we can
talk to people. We really encourage groups, industry groups, support
groups to feed their information back through to us. Coming
up this year, we're going to have dropping centers, We're
(05:33):
going to continue to farm visits, we're going to get
out flyers, and we've got a raft of internet resources
that people can go and use, as I said, together
with industry, stakeholders and community groups. So there's a lot
of support out there and I'd only encourage farmers to
talk to talk to each other and share those practices.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Good on you, hey, thanks for some of your time today,
Glenn Burrow out of MP. I appreciate it. And you know,
saye as trying to keep New Zealand farmers honest. New
Zealand farmers you need to keep safe honest. So good
winter grazing practices. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure, thank you, Jamie
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