Spain may introduce mandatory animal welfare training for all those involved in livestock farming

Workers involved in raising cattle, pigs, or poultry must complete at least 20 hours of training in animal welfare, biosecurity, animal health, hygiene, and public health. This training, which is also mandatory for the farm owner, must be completed within six months of commencing work on the farm.

Persons with the qualifications of agricultural production technician, senior livestock and veterinary technician, basic vocational qualifications in agricultural activities, or equivalent qualifications are exempt from mandatory registration. Persons with more than three years of experience in livestock care are also exempt. In the case of cattle, it is also stipulated that refresher courses of at least 10 hours must be completed at least once every five years.

In short, these are just some of the changes included in the draft royal decree being prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture to amend several royal decrees establishing basic rules for certain livestock farms. The document was published for public comment a few days ago on the Ministry of Agriculture’s website. The deadline for comments is the 27th.

Other changes concern farm biosecurity. In this case, the draft royal decree states that authorities may require farms to fence their premises to protect against the entry of people, vehicles, or wild animals.

In this regard, it adds that continuous perimeter fencing will be mandatory for newly established Group III farms [for cattle, these are non-extensive and semi-extensive farms with up to 850 head of cattle] and existing Group IV farms [farms with more than 850 head of cattle].

Other changes concern manure management, animal movements, clarification of the classification of operators and centres, and animal registration.

Tags: livestock sector