MAF Standard for the Transport of Farmed Deer by Sea from New Zealand
30 July 2004
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Assembly Phase
- 3. Preparation for Export
- 4. Shipping Phase
- Appendix I: Point of aim for destroying deer
- Appendix II: Reporting Form
Preface
The purpose of this standard is to optimise the management of sea transport of farmed deer and to ensure that acceptable welfare standards are maintained.
1. Introduction
Animal welfare considerations are becoming increasingly important for the farming of animals, and for transporting them both within New Zealand and internationally. Practices that may have once been deemed acceptable are now being reassessed and modified according to new knowledge and changing attitudes. High standards of welfare are not only important for the animals’ well-being, but they are also required by legislation and have direct economic benefits that lead to continued success in the international market. It is recommended that this Standard is incorporated into exporter’s quality assurance programmes.
The five basic requirements of animals have been considered in developing this Standard:
- ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
- the provision of appropriate comfort and shelter
- the prevention, or rapid diagnosis and treatment of injury, disease or infestation with parasites
- freedom from distress
- the ability to display normal patterns of behaviour.
The Standard also provides interested parties in New Zealand and overseas with evidence of the level of animal welfare expected in this country and demonstrates the commitment of the industry to continued improvement of these standards.
Transportation of deer can be a stressful experience. Deer should be well accustomed to being handled. The shipment of deer by sea is a relatively novel area and it is important that standards are clearly identified with the objectives of:
- establishing a benchmark for the welfare of deer during sea transport, and
- providing a guide for new exporters in the trade
This standard has been produced following consultation with livestock exporters, shippers, AgriQuality, the New Zealand Veterinary Association and the deer industry.
This standard applies to farmed red and red x wapiti deer.
This standard is subject to review and amendment as required, but in any event will be reviewed at the end of one year following its issue.
2. Assembly Phase
2.1 Only deer that are healthy and fit to travel are eligible for shipment.
| FIT TO TRAVEL Explanation: Animals for export must be healthy, not suffering any injury that could affect their ability to travel and be in adequate body condition. Factors to take into account:
|
2.2 Young deer must be a minimum age of 6 months and must have been weaned for at least 2 months prior to assembly for export.
2.3 Pregnant deer may be shipped but can only be shipped if they arrive before the start of the last trimester of pregnancy. The certifying veterinarian must be satisfied as to the stage of pregnancy. Pregnancy status will be verified by the use of an owner’s declaration stating the first date of mating. It is advisable that confirmation of the stage of pregnancy should be determined as early as possible in the pregnancy.
2.4 Lactating deer will not be eligible for export by sea.
2.5 Males with either velvet or hard antler will not be eligible for export by sea. Male deer with bleeding antler stubs or in the first week after velveting must not be transported.
2.6 Stags over 1 year of age must not be transported during the roar and rut periods i.e. from 1 February to 30 June.
2.7 Assembly of deer for export must take place in time to enable the deer to adapt to the diet fed on the ship and to allow for deer to become compatible with pen cohorts. Groups of deer that are going to be penned together on board should be mixed during this period.
2.8 All deer transported to the assembly facility and from that area to the point of loading of the ship, should be moved in accordance with Code of Recommendations and Minimum Standards for the Welfare of Animals Transported within New Zealand.
3. Preparation for Export
3.1 Aim
During the export preparation phase, deer must be managed to ensure that they will adapt to the sea voyage with respect to feeding and watering. The animals must be free from disease and the deer must be socially compatible with pen cohorts.
3.2 Feeding during the preparation phase
Preparation phase feeding management must be designed to ensure adaptation to the shipboard diet.
A combination of meadow or legume hay and high fibre concentrate pellets is recommended with increasing amounts of hay and pellets fed over a 30 day period during the preparation phase, finishing with full ship board rations for at least 72 hours before export.
3.3 Water
Clean and palatable drinking water must be provided at all times, on an ad libitum basis.
3.5 Preparation phase management
3.5.1 Deer should be grouped according to bodyweight (± 10%) and sex. The deer should be managed in the same mobs so that they will be with the same cohorts when penned on the ship.
3.5.2 Deer must be checked by an experienced stockperson at least once per day and appropriate action taken to correct any situation causing distress to the animals.
3.5.3 Handling and holding facilities must be designed to handle the required number of animals without injury and with minimum stress.
3.5.4 It is strongly recommended that deer less than the age of 12 months are vaccinated against Yersiniosis.
4. Shipping Phase
4.1 Only those animals which are fit and healthy may be exported. (See above definition of fit to travel).
4.2 Loading facilities must be constructed so as to prevent injuries and to allow for easy loading. All right angled corners or sharp objects on or next to the feeding and watering troughs must be covered or smoothed.
4.3 Deer must be loaded onto the ship through raceways with solid walls, such as plywood preferably at least 2 metres high.
4.4 Shipboard pens
4.4.1 All pens, containers and fittings must be designed for easy operation and be strong enough to contain the animals’ weight, to prevent the animals escaping or falling out, and to allow ready access to food and water.
4.4.2 Pens must be solid walled with an adequate number of ventilation holes to ensure a free flow of air to dissipate heat and ammonia. There must be a gaps of 250-300mm, both top and bottom. The gap at the top must allow adequate airflow still to occur so as to dissipate heat and ammonia.
4.4.3 Space Requirements
Consideration must be given to the animal’s access to food and water, age, sex, breed, and pregnancy status, to the length of voyage, ventilation and likely environmental temperatures and humidity. The following space requirements will apply.
| Minimum pen area per head for farmed red or red x wapiti deer exported by sea | |
| Liveweight | Pen area (sq.m) |
|---|---|
| Below 100 | TBA |
| 100 | 1.54 |
| 110 | 1.57 |
| 120 | 1.59 |
| 130 | 1.62 |
| 140 | 1.64 |
| 150 | 1.67 |
| 200 | 1.80 |
| 250 | 2.08 |
| 300 | 2.36 |
| [Intermediate values could be extrapolated in a linear manner] | |
Note: These figures may be subject to revision, as greater knowledge and experience is gained
The maximum number of animals which can be carried will be restricted to 250 per ship per exporter for the first two shipments on a particular vessel. Providing those shipments meet with the approval of MAF, an exporter may increase the maximum number to 500 on that particular vessel for further consignments.
Note: (i) Mature breeding stags should be penned separately.
(ii) Accessible trough spaces should be evaluated on a per head basis before finalising the number of animals that can be housed in each pen.
(iii) There must be available space for a hospital pen on each level of the ship.
4.4.4 Pen floors must have a non-slip surface.
4.4.5 Bedding, such as straw, shavings or sawdust must be provided and must be spread before the deer are loaded.
4.5 Ventilation
4.5.1 The ship’s ventilation system must be capable of allowing normal animal behaviour during heat and ventilation stress periods in the tropics. Deer are very sensitive to heat stress and there must be management practices in place to cope with effects of high temperatures and humidity such as increasing air flow, increasing the concentrate content of the diet, increasing water consumption, spraying etc.
4.5.2 There must be sufficient free air space above the heads of the deer/tops of the solid partitions for the movement of heated ‘foul’ air towards the exhaust exits.
4.6 Feeding during the voyage
4.6.1 Deer must be fed at least once per day but be checked at least twice daily.
4.6.2 Feed should be made available to the deer within 24 hours of leaving the assembly farm.
4.6.3 Deer must be fed no less than maintenance rations. Two per cent of the body weight of good quality hay, or its equivalent, will usually achieve this. Where concentrates are fed, they should be included at an approximate rate of 1:4 with the roughage.
4.6.4 Sufficient feed must be loaded on the ship to meet maintenance requirements for the duration of the voyage plus an extra 2 days for voyages up to and including 20 days and an extra 3 days for voyages between 21 and 30 days.
4.6.5 Feed requirements should be calculated on the basis of daily requirements of metabolisable energy (ME)
| Table 1: Guideline to Seasonal Nutritional Requirements of Mature Deer | ||||
| Energy Requirement (MJ ME/day)* | ||||
| Autumn | Winter | Spring | Summer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stags | ||||
| NZ Red | 19 | 35 | 42 | 38 |
| Elk x Red | 25 | 47 | 56 | 51 |
| Elk or Wapiti | 34 | 62 | 71 | 66 |
| Hinds | ||||
| NZ Red | 27 | 26 | 28 | 49 |
| Elk x Red | 48 | 46 | 50 | 85 |
| Elk or Wapiti | 64 | 61 | 67 | 120 |
This assumes diets contain 14-16% crude protein as adequate for maintenance.
* Metabolisable energy (ME), measured in units of heat produced in fermentation of food and is a measure of comparative food evaluation. Its measurement is in Mega joules (MJ) and is a measure of the digestible energy of the food provided, less the energy lost in the production of methane and urine (16-20% total).
| Table 2: Guidelines for Seasonal Nutritional Requirements for Maintenance and Growth of Red Deer from Weaning till Slaughter | ||||||||
| Liveweight (kg) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 110 | |
| Maintenance Stag requirements (MJME/day) | ||||||||
| Autumn (Winter Sheltered) | 11.9 | 14.1 | 16.2 | 18.2 | 20.1 | 21.9 | 23.7 | 25.5 |
| Winter | 13.5 | 16.0 | 18.3 | 20.6 | 22.7 | 24.8 | 26.9 | 28.9 |
| Spring | 10.8 | 12.8 | 14.7 | 16.5 | 18.2 | 19.9 | 21.5 | 23.1 |
| Summer | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.4 | 15.0 | 16.6 | 18.1 | 19.6 | 21.1 |
| Gain (g/d) | ||||||||
| 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 | 300 | 350 | 400 | |
| Extra energy needed (MJ/d) | 2.7 | 5.3 | 8.0 | 10.6 | 13.3 | 15.9 | 18.6 | 21.2 |
| *Seasonal maintenance requirements are affected by the weather so may be lower when the temperatures are warmer than normal and conversely higher, when temperatures are lower than normal. *Add extra energy for gain to the maintenance requirement to get total requirement. | ||||||||
| Table 3: The Dry Matter (DM) and Metabolisable Energy (ME) content of Common Supplementary Feeds | |||
| Feed Type | Dry matter % | Metabolisable energy (MJ ME/kg DM) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hay: | Pasture | 85 - 88 | 8.0 – 10.0 |
| Lucerne | 85 - 88 | 8.5 – 10.5 | |
| red clover | 85 - 88 | 8.0 – 10.0 | |
| pea vine | 85 - 88 | 7.5 – 9.0 | |
| Grain: | Barley | 86 - 89 | 11.5 – 12.8 |
| Oats | 86 - 89 | 10.0 – 11.5 | |
| Maize | 86 - 89 | 13.0 – 13.5 | |
| *Use metabolisable energy content to compare the value of feeds for the maintenance proportion of the diet | |||
4.6.6 The ship must provide dry storage for fodder to prevent spoilage due to rain, sea spray, condensation etc.
4.6.7 Feeding management should ensure that all deer in each pen have access to food at all times during feeding.
4.7 Watering
4.7.1 Clean and palatable water should be available to deer within12 hours of leaving the assembly farm.
4.7.2 Clean and palatable water must be available on demand throughout the voyage and automatic waterers should provide water 24 hours per day.
4.7.3 The ship’s watering system must have sufficient storage and generation capacity to provide water for the duration of the voyage plus an extra 10% (to allow for delays), based on the following minimum requirements:
| The estimated daily drinking water requirements (Litres per day l/d) for red deer when fed a concentrate diet. | |
| Water requirements (l/d) | |
|---|---|
| Weaners (up to 85 kg LW) | 1.5-2.5 |
| Hinds (dry, 100-120 kg LW) | 3.0-4.0 |
| Stags (180-250 kg LW) | 6.0-7.0 |
Assumptions made:
- The table refers to ambient temperature up to 20ºC.
- For temperatures over 20ºC the following additions should be made. Approximately 1.0l/day should be added per 100kg LW for every 5ºC higher temperature.
- Weaner requirements are based on a liveweight gain of 0 to 350 g/day, with the lower water requirement for the lower gain.
- Hinds water requirements are based on a near maintenance feed requirement of 2 kg DM.
- Stag water requirements are based on a near maintenance feed requirement of approximately 4 kg DM/day.
- The dry matter concentration of a forage diet is assumed to be up to 30% DM, while that of a concentrate diet is assumed to be greater than 80% DM.
Nb: In extremely hot conditions i.e. when pen temperatures are greater than 40oC, water requirements should at least be doubled.
4.8 Ship Management
4.8.1 The ship must be adequately staffed to:
- ensure that adequate food and water is provided throughout the voyage and that the ventilation systems operate to deer becoming distressed
- remove sick or injured deer to hospital pens for treatment
- keep aisles and pens clean.
- maintain the pens in a state of good repair.
4.8.2 Where mechanical and/or automated systems are used for feeding, watering and ventilation, there must be back-up systems capable of providing these services in the case of breakdown.
4.8.3 An experienced deer veterinarian must accompany the shipment.
4.8.4 A competent stockperson experienced with deer must accompany the shipment. Evidence of the stockperson’s experience will be required, as a requirement for the issue of an animal welfare export certificate.
4.8.5 There must be sufficient medication on board to treat lame, injured or sick deer and equipment carried to enable humane slaughter should this be necessary.
4.8.6 The exporter must ensure that humane destruction can be carried out when necessary. Humane destruction can carried out using a captive bolt pistol with penetrating bolt or firearm (see Appendix I with regard to site of use), or an overdose of anaesthetic administered by a veterinarian.
4.8.7 The exporter must ensure that, prior to departure of the ship, the Master is provided with clear, written instructions or standard operating procedures that cover:
- the quantity and type of feed to be provided and the frequency of feeding required for each class of deer during the voyage;
- if water is not supplied ad-libitum, the quantity of water to be provided and the frequency of watering required during the voyage;
- pen cleaning requirements;
- treatment of deer during the voyage;
- the authority to humanely destroy any animal that is seriously ill or injured;
- procedures for contacting the exporter in the event of an animal health or welfare emergency. For this purpose, the exporter must provide the Master with phone numbers that will allow, throughout the voyage, 24 hour, seven (7) days a week contact with either the exporter or an authorised representative of the exporter; and
- reporting procedures during and on completion of the voyage.
4.8.8 The ship must be adequately equipped to ensure that adequate food and water can be stored and/or produced (in the case of water), throughout the voyage and until completion of disembarkation and that the ventilation systems operate effectively to avoid the deer being distressed. Where mechanical and/or automated systems are used for feeding, watering and ventilation, there must be back-up systems capable of providing these services in the case of breakdown.
4.9 Animal Welfare Export Certificate
All animals being exported from New Zealand (unless specifically exempted) must be exported under the authority, and in accordance with the conditions of an animal welfare export certificate.
Application forms for an animal welfare export certificate can be obtained from AgriQuality New Zealand, MAF veterinarians located at Auckland and Christchurch airports or from the MAF website:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/regs/exports/animals
Applications must be made at least 20 working days before the date the animals are scheduled to be exported.
4.10 Reporting requirements
A voyage report (see Appendix II) is required to be completed and signed by the stockperson at the completion of the journey and it is the exporter’s responsibility to provide the report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry within 10 working days of the completion of the journey.
In addition to the final voyage report, MAF must be advised of any untoward incidents during the voyage. An interim report on the incident is to be immediately faxed to:
Director Animal Welfare
Animal Welfare Group
MAF Biosecurity Authority
Fax: + 64 4 498 9888
Appendix I: Point of aim for destroying deer
Recommended positions and direction of fire for captive bolt pistol or firearm - deer.
- Frontal method
- Poll method
Frontal method: A firearm or captive-bolt pistol should be directed at the forehead where lines taken from the base of each ear to the opposite eye intersect. A firearm should be fired horizontally into the forehead.
Poll method: (Firearm only) If the deer are disturbed when approached from the front, an equally effective method is to fire the instrument through the skull just behind the base of the antlers. The firearm should be aimed in line with the animal's muzzle
Appendix II: Reporting Form
| Reporting Form | ||
|---|---|---|
| Exporter | ||
| Date of Shipment | ||
| Name of Vessel | ||
| Port of departure | ||
| Date of departure | ||
| Date of arrival | ||
| Voyage Veterinarian | ||
| Voyage Stockman | ||
| Total number of deer | ||
| Classes and numbers: | Weight | |
| Less than 12 mnths | ||
| Hinds | ||
| Stags | ||
| Voyage mortality (by class): | ||
| Less than 12 mnths | ||
| Hinds | ||
| Stags | ||
| Total number | ||
| Loading Densities (i.e space per animal): | ||
| Less than 12 mnths | ||
| Hinds | ||
| Stags | ||
| Feed loaded: | ||
| No. bales of hay: | ||
| Amount of pellets: | ||
| Feed remaining at end of voyage: | ||
| No.bales of hay | ||
| Amount of pellets | ||
Please provide a full description under the following headings:
Feeding
Include
- number of times fed per day
- description of how carried out
- feed quality
- were there sufficient supplies?
Watering
Include
- description of how supplied
- any problems with supply
- total amount taken on board
- total amount produced during voyage
- amount remaining at completion of voyage
Drainage and the Manure Pad
Include
- nature of bedding
- description of pad condition throughout voyage
Ventilation
Include
- description of ventilation system
- adequacy of system e.g. airflow, ability to remove heat and gases
Temperature
Include
- record of daily minimum and maximum temperatures
- description of management techniques available and/or used throughout voyage
Weather Conditions
Include
- description of weather patterns throughout voyage
Autopsy Summary
Include
- numbers and dates of deaths, and class of animal
- cause of death
Arrival and Discharge
Include
- time and date of arrival
- any problems associated with disembarkation
Any other information that would be helpful with regard to the Standard.
Page last updated: 16 June 2008