Jamie Mackay: The Country host on New Zealand Merino investigating alleged animal welfare violations

Two farms have been suspended from New Zealand Merino’s ZQ quality standard supply programme after undercover videos appeared to show animal welfare breaches.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claimed that a recent investigation uncovered cruelty towards sheep on these farms - forcing MPI to take action.

The Country's Jamie Mackay says people reportedly stood on sheep's necks, dragged them across the floors of shearing sheds and sewed up wounds without painkillers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's talk about rule issues. Jamie mackay as the host
of the Country. How is it being back at work?

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Jamie, Oh, I'm looking. I needed a holiday from the holiday.
Andrew it's been good, good, good good.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
But it's any Thursday. This week's gone on forever. But
there we go. So we've got two farms that have
been suspended for the New Zealand Marinos Q Quality Standards
of Play program, which is a long name. Some undercover
videos appeared to show animal welfare breaches.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, this is from Peter, the animal activist group. So look.
New Zealand Marinos launching an independent investigation, as is MPI,
as is the New Zealand Sharing Contractors Association. New Zealand
Marino chair Kate Mitchell said. The footage, and we've seen
it on the news, shows people standing on sheep's necks,

(00:49):
grabbing sheep or dragging sheep across the floor or the
board of the sharing shared sewing up a bloody wound
without painkillers. We used to do that all the time time,
but times have changed. And basically she's saying these aren't
up to the values and practices of the six hundred
farms that are part of this z Q program. Look,

(01:11):
the best commentary I thought came from a woman by
the name of Jills Angus Bernie. Hello Jills, if you're listening.
She's a lawyer, was once held the world women's world
sharing record five hundred and forty one lambs and nine hours,
so she knows what she's doing. That's a lot, Andrew,
you just tried dragging that many out and shucking them

(01:31):
down the porthole. So she said, Look, she's not surprised
Peter has targeted New Zealand sheep sharers because it did
the same thing in Australia. But what she's saying, and
it's true, is that behavior or standards have improved drastically
over the recent decades. And once again I can speak
to this with a bit of experience. Andrew, forty years

(01:53):
ago I was sharer, and they're certainly the standards are
much better than they were back in those stays. And
she points out that when it comes to marinos as
opposed to our crossbread sheet, you know, the Romney's, the
Coopworths or whatever. Look, they're wrinkly creatures. They've got fine wool,
Nick stew happen they have three times as many capillaries

(02:13):
as the British breeds the likes of the Romneys, so
you do occasionally get more cuts, even with the best
of will. So look, I think you know, the industry
itself polices this. If I've seen the footage. If a
farmer was in the shed when that happened, the sharer
or sharers concerned would be sacked. They'd be they'd be

(02:35):
out the door straight away, and a good contractor would
sack sharer's behaving like that. So I think they've cherry
picked some of the worst behavior. You know, there's baby
eggs and every basket.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
But going forward, we hope for an outbreak of common sense,
which is rare these days, but there we have it.
Some shareholders of the Alliance Group are worried about what
might happen if the cooperative fails to raise you capital.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, well, the Alliance Group's been in the news obviously
in recent times. I've suffered a couple of big losses.
They need to raise two hundred million. They announced it
last month's annual meeting down in South and that they
paused their capital raising program through livestock production and the
issuing of new shares. Look that I'm not saying they're
running out of rope. The sheep meat industry is on

(03:19):
the improved this year. But if they can't get someone
to front up with two hundred million dollars, and I'm
not sure the banks will, they may have to look
at a hybrid farmer cooperative cooperative ownership model, a bit
like silver Fern Farms, or just put the whole shooting
works on the blocker and sell it. Whether there would
be a buyer, I don't think so. The other players

(03:40):
in the market would like to pick up their shares
or their plants, perhaps through attrition. Andrew Morrison's leading the group.
He's the former chair of Beef and Land New Zealand.
He raised a good point the most successful co op
in this country is Tattoo, a derry in Morrinsville. Forty
four percent of a farmer's total enterprise is and shares

(04:02):
Frontera It's ten percent. Alliance at the moment is only
sitting at zero point six percent. So he's arguing if
you want a strong cooperative, you've got to put your
money where your mouth is and invest in it.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Good stuff. Daie McKay from the country dot co dot.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Ed z for more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen
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