New Red Tractor rules for 1st Nov

[westwards]

Dear Red Tractor Member,


We are pleased to outline what is changing in our revised farm standards, which come in effect from 1 November 2021.


Please find a summary of key changes in your sector below. You will shortly receive a technical briefing in the post, which gives more detail on the changes.


In August we will send the full standards manuals to you, giving ample time to check that you meet the farm standards that our scheme requires. Be sure to visit redtractorassurance.org.uk over the coming weeks and months to know exactly what you need to do, we will also share tools, checklists and further information to help you get ready for 1 November.


The new standards follow our largest-ever consultation, where for the first time we opened the process to our 46,000 members and the entire food supply chain.


This had a genuine influence on our approach and saw some proposals dropped, while others were simplified and clarified. Over 3,000 pieces of feedback were fed into the technical advisory committees and sectors boards for consensus, before being agreed by the main Red Tractor board. Find out more about our committees and boards on our website.


Meeting the needs of farmers, the supply chain and shoppers and diners is always a challenging balancing act, but we are pleased to have reached consensus and have the support of farming unions and associations.


It is important to know that some new standards have been added because of legislation change, such as an amendment to vermin control standards to comply with food safety law, or industry commitments to improving animal welfare, including the wider dairy sector’s pledge to eliminate the routine euthanasia of calves by 2023.


We would like to thank everyone who gave feedback throughout this whole process.


Key changes in your sector


Dairy

• NEW Following recommendations from the Farm Animal Welfare Council and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), tethered housing systems, for stock of any age, will not be permitted on Red Tractor Farms. In the short term, derogations will be offered, and visits will be made to the small number of members still tethering their cattle.
• NEW In 2020 Red Tractor consulted on proposed standards to ensure the industry delivers on a commitment to eliminate the routine euthanasia of calves by 2023. A new standard is focused on a written breeding and management policy.
• NEW Efficient and meaningful health planning encourages a move to a proactive management system. A health plan now needs to be signed, dated and reviewed annually by a nominated vet, who should visit the farm at least once a year.
• NEW All farms with workers must have a written Health and Safety policy – this is a slight advance on the legal baseline which only applies to businesses with more than five employees. Given high fatality figures in the industry Red Tractor believes it is essential to check policies are in place and communicated to workers.

If you have any questions about our new standards or would like help, please email [email protected], or join our new Red Tractor Farmers Facebook group where the team will be providing extra information and support.


Best Wishes


The Red Tractor Team

 

[westwards]

Will Wensleydale Creamery now pull out of Red tractor or just dump the producers who still milk in old byre's/cowsheds ?

 

[Ffermer Bach]

What is wrong with tethering cattle in a cow shed? The poor cows at the bottom of the pecking order have a terrible time, where as tethered they have their food, water all taken to them and no bullying. I know times have moved on, and I don't think anyone probably uses a cowshed system now, but personally I can't see anything wrong on welfare grounds, after all it is perfectly acceptable to "tether" a dog while taking it for a walk.

 

[Henarar]

What is wrong with tethering cattle in a cow shed? The poor cows at the bottom of the pecking order have a terrible time, where as tethered they have their food, water all taken to them and no bullying. I know times have moved on, and I don't think anyone probably uses a cowshed system now, but personally I can't see anything wrong on welfare grounds, after all it is perfectly acceptable to "tether" a dog while taking it for a walk.

What about at a show or market can they be tethered there?

 

[bigw]

RT are going to offer derogations to anyone thethering cattle for housing as they have no idea what the numbers are. So its not really going to be enforced immediately but will be banned without a doubt in the future. I think tethering at milking times wont come under this at the moment but will likely be looked at in the future.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

What about at a show or market can they be tethered there?

oops, good point, cattle sheds in the shows!

 

[Henarar]

oops, good point, cattle sheds in the shows!

Can't do that any longer if you are an rt farmer

 

[betweenthelines]

Tethered cows get individual treatment-how is doing away with that good for welfare?

All the famous herds of the post war period were "tied by the neck" and they had tremendous yields so it can't have been that bad.

As for the Health Plan requiring an annual Vet visit, does that mean you can be RT approved and just have a Vet visit once a year?

 

[Henarar]

oops, good point, cattle sheds in the shows!

Anyone know if the same rules apply for RT beef ? It may thin the shows out a bit

 

[bigw]

The standard has been rewritten for the housing of animals ie tied in a stall for the winter. The standard is likely to follow for beef and i think they have under estimated how common the practise will actually be.

 

[Sid]

What is wrong with tethering cattle in a cow shed? The poor cows at the bottom of the pecking order have a terrible time, where as tethered they have their food, water all taken to them and no bullying. I know times have moved on, and I don't think anyone probably uses a cowshed system now, but personally I can't see anything wrong on welfare grounds, after all it is perfectly acceptable to "tether" a dog while taking it for a walk.

Does that mean that tethering cows with locking yokes will be banned as well.

Exactly the same as some barns used for milking.

 

[Princess Pooper]

I had all the queries in my head about shows and tethering for vet treatment etc but when I read the full consultation doc before submitting my comments it made clear that these are excluded. You, all, I assume, submitted a response to the consultation if you are only just reading about tethering?

It is the tethered housing that is not, but they are taking the softly softly approach to that to start with.

 

[Henarar]

I had all the queries in my head about shows and tethering for vet treatment etc but when I read the full consultation doc before submitting my comments it made clear that these are excluded. You, all, I assume, submitted a response to the consultation if you are only just reading about tethering?

It is the tethered housing that is not, but they are taking the softly softly approach to that to start with.

I did think that there would be an exclusion for shows and was just making the point to show how stupid it was, so is ok for them to be tethered at a show for five or six days in the summer as well but not at home in the winter, what a joke

 

[Tonka]

Will Wensleydale Creamery now pull out of Red tractor or just dump the producers who still milk in old byre's/cowsheds ?

Housing systems......not milking systems

 

[westwards]

The real problem is Red Tractor's masters are the retailers and they want to stop British farmers tethering cows in this country,
but still want to buy produce from the Alpine regions of Europe.

 

[tullah]

The real problem is Red Tractor's masters are the retailers and they want to stop British farmers tethering cows in this country,
but still want to buy produce from the Alpine regions of Europe.

The funny thing is that the retailers don't know WHY "they want to stop British farmers tethering cows"

 

[gone up the hill]

What about at a show or market can they be tethered there?

Not if your a RT member under the new rules apparently!

If the above is the case it will be the end of cattle at shows/ primestock shows etc.

Local markets tether the dairy cows up before they are sold, that will have to stop, the cubicles will have to be ripped out and replaced with pens and so the bulls**t goes on!

 

[Henarar]

The funny thing is that the retailers don't know WHY "they want to stop British farmers tethering cows"

Probably can't think of what else to do next like a load of little kids

 

[bigw]

Not if your a RT member under the new rules apparently!

If the above is the case it will be the end of cattle at shows/ primestock shows etc.

Local markets tether the dairy cows up before they are sold, that will have to stop, the cubicles will have to be ripped out and replaced with pens and so the bullpoo goes on!

They have amended the wording of the standard to say housing and is defined by where and animal eats and sleeps or something along those lines.

 

[Henarar]

They have amended the wording of the standard to say housing and is defined by where and animal eats and sleeps or something along those lines.

Well they eat and sleep tethered up in the sheds at shows