New Welfare Laws To Be Announced?

In a decisive move, the Government has announced sweeping new reforms designed to improve animal welfare and place responsiblity soley on the traders of animals.

Many animals are sold with no prior knowledge, or apparant care, of the conditions they will face once under the charge of their new owners. Under the new guidelines the purchasers will be required to undergo audits to ensure their facilities are up to standard, before the sellers are granted permission to trade their animals. It is a move expected to be greeted with rounds of applause from the animal welfare movement, who's exposure and documentation into breaches of basic welfare by owners raised alarm nationwide.

But those within the industry claim the activists views are one sided and only represent a small proportion of animal owners.

"These people care and respect for the animals we provide them. It's a small number giving the rest of us a bad name," commented one spokesperson. "We already take steps to provide our customers with the skills and resources they require to properly look after the animals we provide. There is a real risk if we impose too many restrictions on them the trade will go underground, or cease all together. Which at the end of the day, that is the activists real intentions."

But a spokesperson for the movement behind the documented welfare breaches denies this is their goal.

"Our evidence speaks for itself. Time after time we have raised the alarm over this issue, and finally the Government has taken action."

The documented cases of abuse can be found here. Not what you may be expecting....

It was this evidence that has led to the new requirements for pet stores and breeders. Prior to any sale going ahead, the purchaser must be audited, their house inspected and receive training to ensure they are capable of adequately caring for a cat, dog, rabbit, goldfish or any other pet they may wish to own. The animal must be tracked from the point of sale to it's ultimate passing, to ensure the best welfare outcomes for the animal. Any breaches of these requirements by the new owners will see the person or store who sold them the animal held accountable and face closure.

However, Fellows Uniting to Raise Rights Involving Every Species (FURRIES) is pushing for stronger changes.

"We at FURRIES believe the government has missed a real opportunity to push for an end to the live pet trade. This country has an extensive manufacturing industry, there is no reason why we cannot increase our stuffed toy production. And given advances in the digital realm, virtual pets can provide children with the joys of raising an animal without any animals being involved."


It's a this point I think you've all realised I'm taking the proverbial. While I'd like to point out the new reforms for live export are fine by me, and seem to be accepted by industry, I wonder if the same standards were applied more broadly whether they would be as welcomed.

You Know You're a Farmer When.....

These were posted on the WA Country Hour Facebook page. The original author is unknown, but whoever they are, they're a genius.

• Your dog rides in the farm ute more than your wife.

• You convince your wife that an overnight trip for machinery parts is a vacation.

 • You wear specific hats for farm sales, livestock auctions and holidays.

 • Your best dog rides in the front of the ute with you.

• If you see a bit of string in a paddock you pick it up and put it in your pocket.

 • You’ve had to wash off with a garden hose before your wife would let you in the house.

 • Your ideal holiday is to visit other peoples farms and stop at every machinery dealer on the way.

 • Your hands look like they are made from the same material as your boots.

Golden Rules of Farming Part 6

I was stuck on the last ten for a while, but the last few days have given me inspiration.

126. The seed cleaner that has run just fine for the last four hours while you carefully watched it, blocks up and spills grain everywhere when you duck behind the tractor for a quick leak.

127. Never put too many oversize signs or amber lights on your wide load, otherwise it's hard to plead ignorant cocky when the cops pull you over.

128. PTO shaft guards are excellent at preventing things getting caught in the shaft. They are also excellent at preventing the grease gun from reaching the multitude of grease nipples on them.

129. If your stock carter starts puffing just from climbing down from the cab of his truck, you're in for a long day.

130. When recieving stock into the depot, no trucks will appear all morning, then when you decide to have lunch, six roll in at the same time.

Silent but Steadily

We have more than a few dogs here. We need them. When we first started the depot we had just two. The first day they thought it was great, chasing sheep all day. The second day they were still keen. The third day they stepped out of their cage half heartedly. The fourth day we had to coax them out with roo tails, and by the fifth day they flat out refused, mentioning something about the AWU. Thankfully they didn't know about Red Dog being a signed up member already, something I'm not keen to tell any of them, actually.

So we've gradually built our fleet of working dogs up over the last few years. We have paddock dogs, yard dogs, a truck dog, a couple of P platers, a few younger L platers and one poor bugger I'm not sure what to do with. But he seems happy staring at the horses all day, though I have warned him if he gets kicked in the head, thats it.

I took this video last week using Gemma's phone thingamy. This is why I don't have one myself, nothing would get done. This is Indy, one of our first dogs. She's going on nine, and we've got two litters out of here. Pure kelpie, they assure us, no dingo at all. Needless to say, when we take her out to the station she wears a bright collar, a muzzle, and if I could work out how to get one on her, a Hi-Vis vest. The dogging group is pretty on the ball out there, and the last thing we would need is for her to get lost while mustering.

These are a handfull of freshly shorn wethers. Mad as hatters, more likely to go over the fence than through the gate. From me opening the gate I gave one command "Back" which usually means left. (I say usually because when it comes to ballsing up lefts and rights, me and the dogs are on an even par.)