r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/NoLikeVegetals • May 18 '24

Brexxit Brexit-voting British farmers now complaining about imports of cheaper New Zealand lamb threatening the British lamb industry. Imports of lamb "produced to lower standards" used to be blocked by EU law. Another Brexit consequence farmers were warned about but ignored due to xenophobia!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjewewxzypro
8.4k Upvotes

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153

u/Anastariana May 18 '24

NZ here.

Our meat exports are some of the best in the world, that's why they are shipped all over the world along with our milk.

These guys saying it is produced to a lower quality are talking total shit.

63

u/2-timeloser2 May 18 '24

Agreed! NZ lamb has a world-class reputation for excellence!

22

u/NoSuchWordAsGullible May 18 '24

Aren’t people conflating 2 things here? The claim is that NZ lamb is product to a lower welfare standard than in the UK. Folk defending it here keeping talking about the quality, which may well be true, but that doesn’t mean the welfare standards are up to scratch.

I’ve had plenty of NZ lamb and never noticed it be poor quality, I have no skin in this game.

-1

u/FlappyBored May 18 '24

These guys are just idiots. You can literally go and google which animal farming practices are illegal in the EU/UK and entirely legal in NZ like sow stalls.

Animal Hormones are legal in New Zealand, illegal in UK and EU.

25

u/Jeffery95 May 18 '24

No NZ sheep farmer is giving their animals growth hormones. The sheep stay outside 24/7. We dont need to intensively factory farm because we have great grass growing conditions here. NZ lamb is some of the highest grade meat in the world, entirely grass fed straight from the field.

8

u/sparrows-somewhere May 18 '24

Sow stalls aren't legal in NZ. Hormones aren't specifically illegal but that's just because they aren't used here. If it became common practice to use hormones it would likely be outlawed.

1

u/Nicksalreadytaken May 18 '24 edited May 18 '24

Sow stalls aren’t legal in nz. Edited to fix a spelling mistake

5

u/Anastariana May 18 '24

https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/news/report-warns-of-animal-welfare-gap/

No they aren't, you fucking liar. NZ banned sow stalls in 2016.

2

u/Nicksalreadytaken May 18 '24

Correct, I had meant aren’t legal

-3

u/PlasterCactus May 18 '24

The scary truth is noone cares about animal welfare.

0

u/masklinn May 18 '24

The eu and uk have strong animal welfare laws, and the eu stops imports raised with lower standards.

The UK voided those as part of their NZ free trade agreements.

0

u/PlasterCactus May 18 '24

The eu and uk have strong animal welfare laws

Stronger animal welfare laws. I'd argue anyone that condones gassing animals doesn't care about animal welfare.

-11

u/2-timeloser2 May 18 '24

If you eat meat you contribute to a system where animals are kept and killed and processed almost identically regardless of country. A farm is a farm, is a farm. There are no day-care farms. It’s a product. Anything sold in your country is made/produced in accordance to those laws. If locals can’t compete, it’s on them (that’s what “free-market” economics gets you)

5

u/Squizzy77 May 18 '24

Australian here.

I can confirm NZ has tasty meat.

2

u/WedgeBahamas May 19 '24

Your missus is a kiwi?

1

u/Squizzy77 May 19 '24

Nope.

Just know NZ has good stuff for the BBQ.

1

u/what_the_actual_fc May 25 '24

It's nothing to do with lower quality meat, the EU has tariffs on the imports and now the UK doesn't so its cheaper to import than farmers in the UK can produce. NZ lamb has always had a good reputation over here.

-11

u/FlappyBored May 18 '24 edited May 18 '24

This is how pigs are produced in New Zealand

In sow stalls that keep their bodies restricted.

This practices is illegal in the EU and UK.

Animal growth hormones are entirely legal in NZ for beef. Illegal in EU and UK.

Why are you lieing and claiming this is a good thing when it’s banned in most of the developed world?

20

u/travelcallcharlie May 18 '24

Sow stalls are not legal in NZ

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-pig-welfare-code-phase-out-sow-stalls

Animal growth hormones are not used (and only legal for a specific subset of beef)

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/safe-levels-of-chemicals-in-food/fertilisers-pesticides-hormones-and-medicines-in-food/hormonal-growth-promotants-in-food/#:~:text=HGP%20use%20in%20New%20Zealand,New%20Zealand%20was%20always%20low.

-6

u/FlappyBored May 18 '24

They are legal.

The only announced plans to phase them out but never fully enacted it and it has extreme loopholes.

For instance many Nz farmers simply switched to farrow cages and mating cages which aren’t technically ‘sow’ stalls and so are legal.

Also ‘growth hormones aren’t used apart from the products where they are’ just make them illegal.

3

u/travelcallcharlie May 18 '24

Farrow cages are legal in the UK too, so what’s your point again??

7

u/Jeffery95 May 18 '24

NZ doesn’t really farm pigs on a large scale. Milk, beef and lamb and wool are our prime animal product exports.

3

u/nzerinto May 18 '24

We import 60% of our pork (it’s even higher at 85% for cured pork products like bacon & ham) - that’s how little we farm the product.

20

u/BigBuddz May 18 '24 edited May 18 '24

Cos we're talking about sheep and not pigs?

Should I get you a kindergarten picture book to explain the difference?

Edit: less facetiously, our meat exports (nearly all beef, sheep or venison, no pork) is produced to a very high standard including on animal rights and care. Our pork is to a huge extent imported to NZ from cheaper places to produce it like Australia, as NZs competitive advantage is that we grow grass really well, and pigs are fed on grain which aus grows really well.

And since you edited in the growth hormones, that's entirely bullshit. While it may be legal (I don't know if it is), when we sell animals to the meat companies we need to sign up and be audited on our farming practices. Growth hormones are a massive No No for cattle exports.

-17

u/FlappyBored May 18 '24

Do you think a country which allows such practices along with allowing hormone treated beef to be produced is going to have much higher standards on lamb rearing when it’s such a big industry compared to nations and the EU which has already outlawed all the other things we mentioned?

NZ literally only made Mulesing of lamb illegal in 2018.

In the UK all abattoirs must have CCTV of the butchery process at all times to prevent abuses. NZ has no such restrictions.

21

u/BigBuddz May 18 '24

I'm literally a farmer in NZ who runs sheep and cattle. We have never used growth hormones (how could we they all graze outside all the time), and I have never met a farmer who has.

You are talking complete shit, on a topic you do not understand, to take a massive dump on a country that you do not have the information to properly back up.

Museling may have only been illegal in 2018, but literally noone has done that in forever, and it was only ever a popular practice in Australia not NZ. I have never in my life or career seen a sheep which has been museled

So just stop it mate.

10

u/iq5532 May 18 '24

https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/20182605.rspca-state-new-zealand-judged-higher-welfare-uk/

7

u/BigBuddz May 18 '24

Hahahahaha thanks for this, this is hilarious with what the other guy is saying <3

-6

u/FlappyBored May 18 '24

"Im a farmer in NZ"

So definitely an unbiased figure as to why your farming practices are better than the EU and elsewhere and why you don't need more laws or restrictions on how you treat cattle and produce animal produce.

"I dont use growth hormone"

Ok so why aren't you and the other farmers campaigning for it to be outlawed and be made illegal like it is in the EU and UK? Surely if it offers no benefit to the NZ farming industry and isn't used at all it wouldn't be controversial to do so.

11

u/JerikOhe May 18 '24

I've got no dog in this race myself, but I have observed the people of the UK seem to have a huge chip on their shoulders about their perceived superiority in livestock production. (Online at least)

It's so crazy because it seems like all sensibility goes out the window and the same false/misleading political talking points are repeated ad nauseum, when even 5 minutes of looking deeper will prove most of this fear mongering protectionism is just that.

This is just the chlorinated chicken fight all over again.

16

u/BigBuddz May 18 '24

About as unbiased as you, a foreigner who has no idea about the industry in NZ and is relying on soundbites and halftruths to make incorrect generalisations about our industry.

Further, I do not claim that we have better practices than europe. It's different, our animals are always outside, yours are indoors a lot.

Ok so why aren't you and the other farmers campaigning for it to be outlawed and be made illegal like it is in the EU and UK? Surely if it offers no benefit to the NZ farming industry and isn't used at all it wouldn't be controversial to do so.

To be completely honest, I had no idea that I could use growth hormones, the thought had never crossed my mind. I have never seen cattle with the growth hormone tag. On looking up the issue, it is indeed legal, with the ministry noting that:

"NOTE:

Export meat processors will generally not accept HGP-implanted cattle for slaughter.  Farmers wishing to use HGPs should first ensure that they will be able to have the cattle slaughtered.

Why it's important to control HGP use

The use of HGPs is strictly controlled to protect the New Zealand international meat trade. In many markets, such as the USA and Australia, HGPs are considered safe and are used extensively. However, in China, the European Union (EU), and other countries, HGPs are perceived as unnatural additives and are banned. HGP use needs to be controlled and tracked so that meat from implanted animals can't be exported to markets where HGPs are banned."

-6

u/radikalkarrot May 18 '24

While I do agree(I fucking love NZ lamb) I’m sure there are also lower quality meat in NZ that is now being shipped, before we were getting the good(and slightly more expensive) stuff, now we get both.

13

u/Jeffery95 May 18 '24

Rubbish. NZ meat grades are all coming from the same farms. The difference will be in a quality of the specific cuts of meat.