AGRICULTURE Victoria (AV) has reminded livestock owners to revisit their livestock feed situation, protected under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 that penalises an insufficient and improper feed to livestock.

AV Animal Welfare senior officer, Morgan Cassell stressed the importance of producers to make appropriate decisions regarding their livestock and their ability to provide adequate feed.

Livestock owners and managers should ask themselves a series of questions:

• What are the nutritional requirements for the class and number of livestock I keep?

• How much feed do I currently have on offer and is it meeting my livestock’s energy and protein requirements?

• How much supplement feed do I need to be feeding?

• Will I have enough? Will I be able to source more?

• What alternative options do I have; agistment, destocking?

“If you aren’t sure of any of the answers to these questions, you need to seek advice or do your research,” Ms Cassell urges.

“There are many free resources and tools available to help and once you know the answers you can then make an informed decision, plan and take action.

“You will find information on sheep and cattle nutrition, tools to help calculate feed-on-offer and interpret feed test results and templates to create a feed budget.

“You can also put in a call to your local Agriculture Victoria Livestock Extension Officer”.

Ms Cassell informs residents that any concerns about livestock will be taken seriously.

“‘Agriculture Victoria will investigate any allegation which concerns an owner or person in charge failing to provide proper and sufficient feed to an animal,” she said.

For information on feeding livestock visit the AV website www.feedinglivestock.vic.gov.au, and AV encourages those wishing to directly make a specific complaint regarding livestock welfare at aw.complaint@agriculture.vic.gov.au