Welfare of animals kept commercially

Rules on transport, feed, housing and husbandry are intended to protect the welfare of animals kept commercially.

Rules on keeping animals commercially

Animals kept commercially include farm animals kept for the production of milk, meat, wool or fur, as well as animals kept for other purposes, like riding. To ensure animals’ welfare, there are rules on the way the animals must be kept, including how much space must be available to them. Animals kept outdoors must be adequately protected against bad weather.

Farmers who want to keep laying hens in cages must use colony systems. Battery cages have been banned in the Netherlands.

New mink farms cannot be established and existing production units cannot be expanded.

More information about animal welfare rules and regulations in the Netherlands can be found on the website of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority.

Supervision of businesses that keep animals commercially

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is responsible for supervising the welfare of animals kept for commercial purposes.

Supervision of slaughterhouses

Slaughtering must be done properly to prevent unnecessary suffering. The NVWA gets independent scientific advice on this from Wageningen Livestock Research.

Animal welfare during slaughter without stunning

Animals must be stunned before they are slaughtered. An exception is made for religious slaughter following Jewish practice (kosher meat) and Islamic practice (halal meat). Special rules apply for religious slaughter where the animal is not pre-stunned. These have been agreed by the government, religious organisations slaughterhouses (abattoirs).

To start with, the animal may only be slaughtered in an approved abattoir, by a specially trained butcher. The butcher also has to cut the animal’s throat in a certain way. These details can be found in the Voluntary agreement on religious slaughter without pre-stunning.

The NVWA supervises slaughter without stunning. The rules are laid down in the Decree containing rules for keepers of animals.  

Animal welfare during transport

Rules on the transport of live animals are intended to protect animal welfare. There are rules on journey and rest times, the professional competence of drivers and technical requirements for the vehicle. 

The NVWA can fine companies that break these rules. If that doesn’t help, the NVWA can suspend or withdraw the transport company’s licence.
 

Welfare of livestock animals during hot weather

The government, farms, transport companies and slaughterhouses have agreed rules to minimise heat stress in livestock animals.

  • For instance, animals may not be transported when the temperature outside is higher than 35 degrees Celsius. 
  • The NVWA performs extra animal welfare checks when it is warmer than 27 degrees. 
  • Livestock transporters and slaughterhouses also have to follow rules on things like space allowances, ventilation and cooling during transport.
  • Livestock housing that only has mechanical ventilation must be fitted with emergency systems and alarm systems. Extra requirements were introduced on 1 July 2024 for this type of housing. If there is a power outage, for instance, a back-up generator must start up immediately to keep the ventilation system working. The generator must be tested regularly.

Fire safety in livestock housing

Unfortunately, fires in livestock sheds are a regular occurrence and kill thousands of animals. In 2020, 108,794 animals died in 54 livestock shed fires. The government wants to do something about this. Taking 2020 as the reference year, the government aims to halve the number of livestock shed fires and animals killed in these fires by 2026. 

The government is working with the livestock sector, fire services, insurers and the Dutch society for the protection of animals (Dierenbescherming) on measures to achieve this.

Preventing livestock shed fires

Electrical faults, short circuits and maintenance work are common causes of high-fatality fires in livestock sheds. In the future, electrical systems and fire safety risks will be checked periodically in livestock housing for

  • dairy cows
  • veal calves
  • dairy goats
  • meat pigs
  • sows
  • laying hens
  • meat chickens (broilers)
  • rabbits
  • ducks
  • turkeys.

There will also be a fire prevention campaign to help farmers improve fire safety on their farms. Currently, research is being carried out into:

  • effective measures to improve fire safety in livestock sheds;
  • comprehensive fire investigations into how and where a fire starts and the age of the building, for instance;
  • possibly reducing the size of fire compartments in new-build and renovated sheds. Smaller fire compartments containing fewer animals will mean fewer livestock deaths.

Identification and registration of animals kept commercially

Owners must identify and register animals kept for commercial purposes. If an infectious livestock disease breaks out, potentially infected animals can be quickly traced. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) is responsible for identifying and registering animals kept commercially.