Quarantine and Animal Health
Australia's farmers are dedicated to ensuring a robust, science-based quarantine system to protect agricultural production from foreign plant and animal pests and diseases. The NFF is also unwavering in providing and pursuing improvements in the world-leading care of Australia's farm animals and in taking those high standards to our international trading partners.
Animal Health and Wellbeing
Why we farm animals
The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) notes that, for thousands of years, farm animals have provided human beings with vital products and services:
- Food – meat, milk and eggs.
- Fibre – wool and leather.
- Other products – tallow, gelatine and bonemeal.
- Manure for fertiliser and fuel.
- Motive power (historically).
The overwhelming majority of Australians enjoy meat, dairy and eggs, and use other products sourced from farm animals, as a fundamental part of daily life.
Why farm animals are an essential part of food production in Australia
Farm animals - such as cows, sheep and goats - convert vegetation (grass and other herbage) inedible to humans into high quality human food and other products. Science has yet to find a better way to do this.
Farm animals enable the production of high quality food in areas unsuitable for cropping. Most of central and northern Australia that is used to graze animals, is unsuitable for cropping.
Farm animals convert crop wastes, that would otherwise have to be disposed off, into high quality food, for example:
- Straw and other waste parts of crops.
- Residues resulting from milling of grain to make flour.
- Malted barley following the extraction of wort for brewing.
- Crushed oilseeds following extraction of oil.
- Residue of soybeans following production of tofu.
Farm animals can consume grains and other crops that are of insufficient quality for use as human food. Feed grade barley or wheat typically makes poor beer or bread.
Grazing provides a valuable means to rest land from cropping, resulting in less ongoing pest and diseases problems in crops, better environmental sustainability and less chemical use.
Well managed grazing land can retain much more natural biodiversity than land used for cropping.
Animal manure is also a valuable fertiliser for cropping and its application improves soil structure and water retention...
- Caring for animals is our business (60.5 kb DOC)
The NFF's February 2008 statement on live exports, outlining the current state of animal welfare practices and dispelling the ill-informed and misleading assertion by some that live exports can simply be replaced by frozen goods...
- NFF Fact Sheet on Mulesing (56.0 kb DOC)
The NFF's December 2006 Fact Sheet, setting the record straight on responsible sheep management in the face of 'flystrike'. While the NFF supports Australian wool producers' research to eliminate mulesing by 2010, it must be acknowledged that, as yet, there is no alternative...
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