Update – 2025
24 September – Public submissions released
The consultation ran from 15 September 2022 to 10 November 2022. We received 32 submissions. All submissions were read in their entirety and considered by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC). We have released a summary of the submissions received.
Summary of Submissions: Code of Welfare for Deer [PDF, 371 KB]
8 September – Updated Code of Welfare: Deer comes into effect
The updated Code of Welfare: Deer came into effect on 8 September 2025.
The code is also available as a document you can download.
Code of Welfare: Deer [PDF, 805 KB]
The updated code includes 60 new minimum standards and changes to 4 of the existing minimum standards.
The new and updated minimum standards relate to stockpersonship and animal handling, deer behaviour, feed and water, physical environment, husbandry practices, disease and injury management, on-farm euthanasia, and contingency planning.
Most farmers are already operating at the level of good practice set out in the updated code, meaning the changes are unlikely to require any significant changes in practice.
We've prepared a fact sheet and an information sheet with a summary of what has changed.
Deer Code of Welfare 2025 updates – fact sheet [PDF, 253 KB]
Summary of changes to the code of welfare for deer 2025 [PDF, 273 KB]
11 August – Updated Code of Welfare: Deer
The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) reviewed the existing code in consultation with deer industry representatives, including the deer industry body, farmers, transporters and veterinarians. An updated code was approved and published in August 2025. It will take effect on September 8, 2025.
Consultation background
The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) reviewed the Code of Welfare for Deer (2018).
The committee determined that the code required amendments to incorporate:
- advances in animal welfare science
- updates to deer farming systems and management practices
- changing views and expectations by the New Zealand public.
NAWAC sought your feedback on the proposed changes to the code and associated recommendations for regulations.
Consultation opened on 15 September 2022 and closed on 10 November 2022.
Consultation documents
Deer Code of Welfare: Proposed changes [PDF, 394 KB]
Draft Proposed Code of Welfare for Deer [PDF, 768 KB]
Code review evaluation report for proposed Code of Welfare for Deer [PDF, 659 KB]
What was proposed?
NAWAC has committed to a programme to review the existing codes of welfare issued under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, beginning with priority livestock codes for dairy cattle, sheep and beef cattle, and deer.
NAWAC reviewed the Code of Welfare for Deer, and consulted on updated minimum standards and recommendations for best practice. The objective was to lift the codes to address changes in scientific knowledge, good practice, available technology, and the explicit recognition of sentience in the Animal Welfare Act. There were also proposed regulations that, if enacted, would relate to deer.
Proposals for changes to existing minimum standards included:
- stockpersonship
- animal handling and restraint
- feed and water
- shade and shelter
- farm and off-paddock facilities
- hand-reared and orphan fawns
- weaning
- pre-transport selection and management
- disease and injury control.
Proposals for new minimum standards included:
- deer behaviour
- selection and breeding
- mating, semen collection, and reproductive technologies
- milking deer
- fawning
- velvet antler removal
- end-of-life management
- on-farm humane killing
- contingency planning.
This was not an exhaustive list of all the proposed changes in the code. Full details were in the consultation documents.
Submissions are public information
Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.
People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.
If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.
