KEY POINTS:
Modern consumers have a very sanitised view of meat. It grows on trees wrapped in polystyrene from where it is harvested for supermarket chillers.
The sight of animals hung in a shop or the skill of a butcher as he produces fresh cuts of meat were once common
but are now rare.
We don't see how animals are kept, transported or slaughtered and mostly we're concerned with quality and price.
Mostly.
People might not shout about it but they do expect decent levels of animal care and for authorities to enforce standards.
Animal welfare is on the agenda with a Government review of New Zealand's policy for the export of livestock for slaughter.
The declared value of livestock exports in 2006 was $49 million, virtually all for breeding purposes.
However, one exporter has expressed an interest to MAF in shipping 60,000 sheep to Saudi Arabia for slaughter in time for the Hajj festival next April.
The farming sector is rightly taking a very open stance on the issue.
Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen says a review is timely.
Sheep have not been exported to Saudi Arabia for slaughter since 2003 - the year more than 50,000 Australian animals were stranded at sea for almost three months after being denied permission to unload.
"The last thing we want to do is allow ourselves to drift into a situation and end up with New Zealand's own version of the Cormo Express which has the potential to bring our industry and animal welfare practices into disrepute," Pedersen said. "Although we don't want to shut down people's opportunities, we do have to think about it from a New Zealand Inc point of view."
Federated Farmers does not really have an official position on the subject, Pedersen says, but is concerned enough to support the Government's plans for a review.
The treatment of animals is becoming more important to consumers, he says.
"It's being recognised more all the time that New Zealand animals are produced in what is essentially a free range system and it's becoming an important point of difference for New Zealand produce."
Mike Petersen, chairman of Meat & Wool, which does not collect a levy on live exports, says: "We'd prefer to see them slaughtered onshore but recognise that from time to time this might happen."
The Government will undertake consultation proposing a Customs Export Prohibition Order, giving MAF the discretion to approve individual consignments on a case-by-case basis and extending consideration beyond the point of unloading to include treatment within the importing country.
The additional controls would not apply to exports for breeding or other purposes.
The deadline for comments on the consultation is November 26 and the prohibition order could be in place in February.
An order lasts for three years - after which it must be renewed or relinquished.
Discussions will also take place on potential longer-term amendments to existing legislation.
Global warming and the contentious issue of food miles is enough to be tackling right now, so let's be careful not to shoot ourselves in the foot by accidentally starting a foreign consumer campaign against New Zealand produce on the grounds of treatment.
HELLO DEER
Venison schedule prices have topped the 10-year average for the first time since 2002 and could rise further, says Deer Industry NZ chief executive Mark O'Connor.
At the third week of October, average prices were $6.75 a kilogram, compared with $5.84kg last year and a 10-year average of $6.17kg.
"Over the next couple of years there's probably more upside rather than downside," O'Connor said.
The outlook spells good news for deer farmers who have lived through a difficult four years.
Outbreaks of BSE and foot and mouth in Europe in 2002 caused a big price rise for venison but a stronger than expected return to beef by consumers saw importers take a loss.
The importers' loss in turn saw producer prices cut and, in a vicious circle, farmers reduced their exposure by sending more animals to slaughter, which further hit the market.
However, provisional venison export volumes for the year ending July fell 12.1 per cent to 23.3 million kilograms, with the production bubble now out of the system.
Meanwhile, the value of venison exports rose 7.4 per cent to $242.7 million.
More than 90 per cent of deer products are exported.
Lower production, favourable market conditions and increased preference for New Zealand venison has driven prices up and there is a risk this could encourage farmers to raise production again, O'Connor says.
"But I think the last four years will be very close to the front of people's minds and for producers that have stuck with the deer industry they won't necessarily be expanding too quickly."
O'Connor would like to see a gradual rise in production in line with increases in demand.
The key consumer season in Europe runs from November to December and demand from importers has been good "but it remains to be seen how actual consumption will go".
O'Connor wants farmers to look forward at lead indicators when planning rather than looking at past performance.
"If they're looking at the lead indicators, I think they'll come to the conclusion that there's a positive future for New Zealand venison."
TOP COW, NO BULL
LIC (Livestock Improvement) says it has hit a record breaking 101,777 straws of dairy cattle semen processed and dispatched in only one day.
Demand for quality genetics is being driven to new heights by expansion in the dairy industry, the company says.
LIC genetics general manager Peter Gatley says no other genetics company came close to being able to process and deliver so much semen in one day.
"This would be near impossible with conventional frozen semen but with our fresh semen technology we can generate ten times the volume," Gatley said.
Nearly 1000 LIC technicians are expected to complete more than 3.5 million inseminations during spring, with some farmers mating their entire herds without using bulls.
No more candlelit dinners and hoedowns in top field then.
BIOSECURITY SUMMIT
A solid turnout from industry bodies, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and other stakeholders homed in on Auckland last week for the fifth Biosecurity Summit.
MAF director-general Murray Sherwin says about 250 people attended the conference, which had the theme "Biosecurity and trade, working together at the border".
"We tried to use it as an occasion to bring together stakeholders and to really engage with them closely about what it is that we're trying to do and to get from them what it is that they are seeing and hearing and feeling," Sherwin said.
New Zealand and Australia took biosecurity more seriously than any other country, he said, "but we've got more at stake than most countries as well and the world changes on us, volumes of passengers and cargoes are escalating all the time."
It was a struggle to keep up with expectations, both public and political, which had also grown over time.
"Stuff gets here quicker and it gets here from more diverse places. The degree of vigilance required escalates all the time. The world will only ever get faster and our border protection must keep pace."
WINE WINNER
Kiwi wine brand Oyster Bay has won Brand of the Year, and took Premium White Wine of the Year for the third time running at the 2007 Australian Liquor Industry Awards.
Jim Delegat, managing director of Delegat's Wine Estate, says the brand award was recognition of Oyster Bay's success in its four-year market presence in Australia.
ACNeilsen says Oyster Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is the top bottled still wine by value across the Tasman.
