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Wendy Petrie talks to Bernard Hickey on TVNZ’s Breakfast about the Crafar Farms scandal
September 29th, 2009Wendy Petrie talks to Bernard Hickey and Charles Cadwallader from the RNZSPCA on TVNZ’s Breakfast about the Crafar Farms scandal. Bernard calls on Fonterra, MAF and Crafar’s banks to act together to transition the Crafar’s 22 farms to new management before more damage is done to New Zealand’s reputation.
For more on this story, see the initial piece here.
Tags: 90 at 9, Allan Crafar, Bernard Hickey, breakfast, Crafar Farms, SPCA, Wendy Petrie
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September 29th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Not condeming what has occurred, however people will have to realise that they get what they pay for when it comes to enforcement work. Five officers covering 10,000 farms……what a joke.
Same goes for the Police, Medical, Building Industry, RMA, Kid Smacking, you name it.
If people really want these services they are going to have to pay through the nose for them. Yet by reading days and days of comments on these blogs, it seems that people want these services when things go bad, but they are not wanting to pay for them.
I say, be prepared to pay, or stop complaining everytime there is an injustice in the world!
September 29th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Funding these services should largely come from those that make them a necessity in the first place – i.e. bigger fines for criminals. The fact is there are some criminals that commit crime, they never pay a fraction of the cost of investigation/legal/etc. The state picks up the bill, yet the criminal still has plenty of money left for themselves.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
eg.finance companies ,banks etc. do you mean?
September 29th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
…..exactly…..but when you place the costs on the industry/business you get screams of blue murder saying that it is making them unprofitable, destroying their business, too many beauracrats etc.
Then there is the factions that say that we have to support the productive sector no matter what. Yet they are the ones that need their hands held because they are so caught up in making money that they fail in basic human duties, let alone common sense, or heavens forbid, good business planning.
I am loving this…….may the media cut this one to bits. Shame on the Crafars but I pity the poor MAF guys on this one.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
The funny thing is that all parties say that they don’t have the resources. The question is why. It should be user pays, and there should be levies placed on farms that farm animals, to cover these costs of monitoring.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I am so grateful that people like you go beyond the theory and into the reality of what some of this stuff means.
It wasn’t too long ago that everyone was ’shocked’ at the way we farm pigs, NZers, for a farming nation are totally ignorant of the realities of modern farming. It’s stories like this that bring the awareness that focuses public opinion in a way that does actually change something.
What an absolute and disguising embarrassment. And thanks again, it’s good to see people using their influence!
September 29th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Its all bollocks. If you have a business and cannot ensure that ALL laws are complied with, that as in this case the animals are healthy and their welfare assured, then you shouldnt be in business.
The issue here is ANIMAL CRUELTY and the suffering of those animals. PROSECUTE THE BASTARDS.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Prosecute?
They were found guilty of 56 charges of animal cruelty last week, Donna.
The punishment?
A $200 fine!
September 29th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I love how this is “new” and “shocking”…….lol
Funny how long the taxpayer and the environment have been subsidising the productive sector…..so we all can be rich….yay for us!
September 29th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Bernard and Bryan have set a fine standard for journalists. wonderful!
re MAF lack of inspectors: this is intentional. The Ministry has a big budget but make a very small allocation to inspection. It does not want to know. The related problem is that inspection, hithertoo, has not raised revenue, but if this could be reversed MAF would devote more resources. They should recruit from the traffic cops.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
So sad. SO DISGUSTING! MAF is full of excuses! Time to prosecute! Fonterra needs to keep an eye on the farms they get their products from! I imagine they knew what was going on! IIt is putting me off buying dairy products. SHAME!!!! Those poor animals. How can any human show such a lack of compassion toward living creatures? The farmer and the woman giving the camera the finger look well fed! Rot in hell cruel dairy farmers!
September 29th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
@Wendy, I’m getting confused with the hairstyles. In the evenings you appear very Rachel (Greene – J Aniston, Friends) like. However, in the mornings, all wavey and mumsy like, like you should be doing recipes before the evening news, ugghh, so not you methinks. Please stick with the Rachel look.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
It is very easy to be a judge I have farmed sheep cattle and deer for over 30 years some times on farms there are some not nice things you have to deal with Why simply the fact that I rear lambs help them survive all sorts of weather then put them on a truck and they get served to the consumer in a nice neat sterile package I rear amimals to kill I hate seeing animals suffer but I would surgest Bernard to spend some time on a farm. The job is not easy and every decision right or wrong you answer for
I just think it is a shame the banks leant him so much money he got far to big i farm 500 hectors the farm has been in the family a hundred years I am pasionate about the land and the long term farming of it the trouble with the big farming sistem is the boses sit on there arses cliping the ticket and don’t do any of the hard graft
September 29th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Well done Bernard.How often have we seen this? when it comes to farm animal cruelty particularly when it appears to look a bit political the bigger the crime
the lesser the fine. Don’t I recall too the pig farmer being tipped off prior to MAF
visit? The problems for all animals is that some humans do not possess any compassion for them! In this country though such treatment of animals is not acceptable in our culture and is therfore morally wrong. Sorry in my opinion there are no excuses.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Well done Bernard! Well done for highlighting this issue. I’ve become an even bigger fan of your blog.
Carlin
October 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Good on Bernard Hickey! I have seen dead bobby calves piled up outside farms in Otorohanga. I drove through one morning past farms that were off the main road. At the gate were the bodies of calves stacked up and covered in plastic. A huge amount. Further along farmers were throwing bodies like sacks of potatoes into the back of a trailer. It was a shocking and brutal sight. They say “it has to be done”. Just like the Nazis thought before they sent the Jews to the gas chamber.
Mary
October 5th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Mary : Allan Crafar is depressed enough , without being accused of Nazi style operations ! But your point is relevant , in that we take farming for granted . Off to the supermarket we trot , and the dairy products and meat packs are all neat and shiny . Anyone who eats meat should witness an animal’s slaughter and butchering . You gain infinitely more respect for domesticated creatures , when you see their demise . Having helped my late father , kill and cut up sheep , many years ago , has always given me a concern for animal welfare .