The practice known as 'induction' has been carried out in New Zealand for around 40 years although the number of farms using it has been decreasing.
Induction allows cow herds to come into milk production simultaneously but the cost is high as the calves die as a result. Pregnant cows are injected four to eight weeks before they are due to give birth.
The practice, which was exposed by Television New Zealand News, is legal and, according to Mr Browning, some 200,000 cows are affected.
The Soil and Health Association, the largest membership organisation supporting organic food and farming in New Zealand, is not the only body concerned about the practice.
The National Animal Welfare Advisory committee (NAWAC) has raised concerns too saying in its 2010 Animal Welfare (Dairy Cattle) Code of Welfare report that induction 'has the potential to affect the welfare of both cow and calf adversely”.
Although the NAWAC has made clear that it does not support the practice, the animal welfare body is only in a position to make recommendations, Mr Browning noted in a press release,
Only the government can ban inductions, he said.
Damaging for NZ's Reputation
There is also concern that the practice could damage New Zealand's farming reputation.
The North Island Manawatu company, Totally Vets, says New Zealand exports 95 percent of its dairy production and believes that induction has the potential to upset the export market.
The veterinarian service says that animal welfare could be used by overseas customers as a trade barrier.
“We have all seen what happens when the media and animal rights groups latch onto issues such as sow crates, bobby calf welfare, emaciated cull cows,” the company says on its website.
Totally Vets believes that induction could be a case of poor planning.
"We simply need to become better at managing the whole system—a tight calving pattern is often a reflection of, rather than the cause of, a successfully run dairy farming system,” says the company.
New Zealand Veterinary Association, Dairy NZ and Federated Farmers have plans to phase out the induction practice by 2013.
“Leaving it to industry to phase out inductions voluntarily is a cop out, says Mr Browning, “The Minister (of Agriculture) needs to use his leadership ability on animal welfare … because he knows what the best markets actually are and he knows what is right.”
He points out that people can safely buy organic dairy products knowing that organic standards would not allow induction.
