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Farm invaders face jail time
Vivien Lin
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The Coalition government has introduced new legislation which if passed, would see animal activists potentially face time in jail for invading farms.
The Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultural Protection) Bill 2019 makes it a criminal offence to incite trespass, property damage or theft on agricultural land. Under the proposed laws, offenders face penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment for damaging property, or theft, and up to 12 months for trespassing.
By making it an offence to use a carriage service to incite others to commit trespassing, theft, or property damage, those organising the invasions face the same consequences as those who trespass. By including the requirement that a carriage service is used, it also brings the offence under Commonwealth, or federal law, as opposed to a matter for the states.
This new legislation responds to the recent surge in anti-farm action , which has seen numerous incidents of large groups trespassing on farming property and harassing farmers.
This directly targets animal rights organisations such as Aussie Farms, which published an interactive online map of all farm locations in Australia. Despite the group claiming it does not condone its map being used to trespass, a recent Facebook video shared on the group’s page displays vegan activists stealing five calves from an Australian business.
“There must be consequences for this unacceptable behaviour,” Attorney-General Christian Porter says. “Farmers should not be subjected to the illegal invasion of their property and their privacy.”
Minister for Agriculture , Bridget McKenzie, says the Bill sends a clear message to animal activists. “These laws are necessary to protect farmers and their businesses – most of them small family businesses – from potential trespass, property damage, theft and biosecurity breaches, and the substantial loss of income that could follow,” she says.
The proposed protections have been welcomed by various industry bodies including the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), NSW Farmers and the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF).
“This sends a strong message to those extremists who are actively rallying volunteers to go onto farms and harass and intimidate, that their antics will not be tolerated,” says NFF President Fiona Simson. “We welcome visitors, arranged through the appropriate channels, and are more than happy to engage with those who take an interest in farming – but trespassing on private property is not the right approach.”
NSW Farmers President James Jackson considers that the proposed legislation is desperately needed. “Every day without action leaves our farmers and their regional communities vulnerable to these criminals,” he says.
“We will be closely following this Bill as it passes through the Parliament, and hope that it is enshrined in law as soon as possible,” says VFF President David Jochinke.
Minister McKenzie has also called on state and territory governments to increase penalties for trespass to further deter animal rights activists, a move which NSW Farmers has supported to ensure farmers can feel safe.
“We need a strong and nationally consistent approach to ensure all farmers have equal protection,” Mr Jackson says.
The Bill has now been referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee , which will report on the Bill by Friday 6 September 2019.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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