Ban on electro immobilisation angers farmers
Limerick IFA has sent a motion to the IFA National Council calling on Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan to defer banning the practice until a suitable alternative is available.
Otherwise, farmers’ lives will be put at risk, said delegates at a Limerick IFA meeting in Adare.
They pointed that the Health and Safety authority wants greater care in handling livestock, to reduce farm accidents, but the Minister is add to farming risks by banning electro immobilisation.
Simon White, Askeaton, said: “The Minister must come up with an alternative. In the meantime, we must accept what is available and be permitted to use it.”
Paddy Ryan, livestock breeder and secretary of the Cappamore Agricultural Show Society, said electro immobilisation was “most useful to the farmer and the vet. It is essential for the safe handling of difficult animals on the farm and I can see no stress being caused.”
“There will be a lot more stress to the animal and to the farmer if the use of electro immobilisation is banned. This must be reconsidered.”
In a recent announcement, the Minister said the ban will come into effect on July 1, 2007, after the Scientific Advisory Committee on Animal Health and Welfare had recommended that the practice be prohibited.
She said organisations representing various interested parties had submitted their views, and she had decided to accept the recommendation of the Advisory Committee.
Continued use of electro immobilisation could not be justified on animal welfare grounds, said the Minister.
One farmer at the IFA meeting said: “It is accepted cattle are becoming more difficult to handle — the Minister will have to introduce quiet breeds of cattle.”
