Whilst I'm all for listening to the market and its signals and adhering to the "customer is always right" principle, this banning all dogs from the meat processors is in my opinion going too far. Where does all this, being more" considerate to sheep" rubbish stop and start. Will working dogs be banned on farms next, or will processing workers be asked to watch their language when around sheep. PC is alive and well in this decision and will make many farmers dispair of where will it all end. Sheepdogs are about to be put out to pasture, with Silver Fern Farms looking to phase out their use by the end of the year reports The Press. British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that the NZ company had been told to stop using the dogs by an English buyer, supermarket chain Tesco. Tesco said the dogs "stressed" the sheep and should not be used unless they could be trained to be "more considerate" to the sheep. Silver Fern Farms spokesman Brent Melville said that, though the company was planning to stop using the dogs, it was not because of an order from Tesco. Customers were not happy with the use of dogs to move sheep and the move followed an international trend in animal welfare.
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