Animal welfare

FirstFarms understands the responsibility borne by companies operating agricultural activities in Eastern Europe. Accordingly, the company has undertaken a series of measures including for safeguarding animal welfare in the various agricultural activities.

Transport

FirstFarms complies with all relevant animal transport legislation in the countries in which the company operates. In the EU, the regulation of animal transport is specified in exactly the same manner in all member states, as Council Regulation (EC) no. 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport (the Transport Regulation) is applicable in all member states. Additionally, FirstFarms' operators and transporters have undertaken to comply with relevant legislation in respect of transportation of animals, so any problems with animal welfare in the area of transportation, both within and outside the EU, have been addressed by the company.

Medication

The company complies with national regulations with regard to medication and retention deadlines. Consequently it is only medicine stores that the authorities focus on and check regularly. The stores are under the control of the inspecting veterinarian.

Cattle treated with medicines are milked separately, and milk from these cows is not mixed with milk sold to the dairies. In this way, milk containing drug residue can never be supplied to dairies by accident and hence cannot be supplied to consumers.

Veterinarian

FirstFarms has a close cooperation with the countries' veterinary authorities, in other words the District Veterinary Office and inspecting veterinarian. The local veterinarian receives assistance from the company, since FirstFarms provides retraining for local veterinarians by a Danish veterinarian. This ensures optimal treatment based on the latest methods, which far exceed normal practice in Eastern European countries.

Training

In addition to retraining of local veterinarians, the company also assists with education and retraining of hoof trimmers in order to ensure proper treatment of hooves and to avoid leg injuries. This means that the highest possible regard is paid to animal welfare and at the same time as loss of productivity is avoided. Local personnel are also trained in animal welfare in order to ensure that the animals has the optimum conditions. The personnel follow a programme called “Cow signals - cow behaviour and welfare”. The programme is based on the personnel being trained to observe the animals in order to be able to identify if the conditions are optimal for the animals.