Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) These rules
establish minimum humane standards for the raising, keeping, care, treatment,
marketing, and sale of domestic livestock and procedures for the enforcement of
those standards, pursuant to the direction of
4:22-16.1. For purposes of these rules,
an animal's status or well-being shall be determined based on a holistic evaluation
of the animal.
(b) It shall be presumed
that the raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing and sale of domestic livestock
for purposes that include, but are not limited to, their use for food, fiber or
service, in accordance with these standards, does not constitute cruelty to or
inhumane care and treatment of domestic livestock in violation of
4:22-15 et seq.
1. The specific husbandry practices identified in
and performed in accordance with this chapter, have been determined by the
Department to meet the standards of humane treatment of domestic livestock and
qualify for the presumption.
2. For
husbandry practices not specifically identified in this chapter that do not qualify
for the presumption but may be found to be humane, based upon techniques for
necessary livestock management and producers included in the following science-based
sources or other sources, which may be shown to incorporate similar science-based
standards:
i. The Handbook of Livestock
Management, Battaglia, fourth edition, 2007. A copy of this document is on file in
the Director's Office, Division of Animal Health, New Jersey Department of
Agriculture, Health and Agriculture Building, John Fitch Plaza, Trenton, New Jersey
08625;
ii. The Guide for the Care and
Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching, Federation of Animal Science
Societies (FASS) third edition (2010),
http://www.fass.org/docs/agguide3rd/Ag_Guide_3rd_ed.pdf;
iii. American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) Guidelines on Euthanasia (June 2007), available at
http://www.avma.org/issues/animal_welfare/euthanasia.pdf;
iv. The American Association of Equine
Practitioners (AAEP) equine welfare, available at
http://www.aaep.org/equine_welfare.htm;
v. The Rutgers School of Environmental and
Biological Sciences, New Brunswick, New Jersey, available at
http://sebs.rutgers.edu/;
and
vi. The New Jersey Agricultural
Experiment Station, available at
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/category.asp?cat=2.
(c) Nothing in this chapter
shall prohibit owners from providing medical care and treatment to their own animals
provided it is performed in compliance with all local, State and Federal laws.
1. Certain treatments may be withheld for food
safety considerations (for example, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medicine,
analgesics).
