Working cats deserve tax deductible status, say researchers and farmers
By Daniel Bingham and Eddie Williams
ABC South East NSW
Topic:Dairy Farming
7m ago7 minutes agoFri 14 Mar 2025 at 10:40pm
A black and white cat sits on a fence post in front of rolling hills
Rexy the cat works hard on a dairy farm in Candelo on the NSW far south coast. (Supplied: Sam Holmes)
In short:
Cats are an effective form of rodent management on farms.
A research project looked at the benefits of assisting farmers with some of the costs associated with working cats.
What's next?
Researchers have recommended working cats be eligible for tax deductions just like working dogs and horses.
The hit TV show Muster Dogs elevated the profile of working dogs, but farmers and researchers say more consideration should be given to working cats.
For thousands of years farmers have kept cats for their talents at catching rats and mice, and now there are calls for people working the land to be able to claim tax deductions for felines.
Farmers can already write off some of the costs of keeping working animals like dogs and horses, but working cats have fallen behind.
Vital on dairy farms
Sam Holmes' family has kept cats on their dairy farm at Candelo on the NSW far south coast for decades.
"Working cats have been here since my pop ran the farm," she said.
"We had a lot of cats here. It was getting quite out of control."
New research suggested granting tax deductions for items such as the cost of desexing working cats, tick treatments, and registrations.
A woman with a cap holds a black cat to the camera
Dairy farmer Sam Holmes with cat Candelo. (Supplied: Sam Holmes)
The researchers interviewed 15 dairy farmers in New South Wales and Queensland who had between three and 60 cats on their farms and had enrolled their cats in a free desexing program.
It found it could not only save farmers money but improve the lives of the cats as well.
Co-author of the research Olivia Forge worked with dairy farmers in the Bega Valley to control the number of cats on their properties.
She said modern dairy farmers rely "very heavily" on working cats and were considered as essential for pest control.
"It just takes one rat to chew through a wire on one of these all-electronic dairies and production is closed down," Ms Forge said.
One of the dairy farmers interviewed for the study said he had not had an equipment break down in the seven years since he had cats on his property.
A woman in a dark polo shirt and glasses looks into the distance
Olivia Forge says helping farmers with desexing can also be positive for conservation. (ABC South East NSW: Alasdair McDonald)
Of the 15 farmers interviewed, 10 had previously used rat poison, but said it was less effective than their cats, expensive, and unsafe.
"A lot of the farmers don't like to use rat bait because they've got working dogs, and also the rat bait's not good for the environment in general," Ms Forge said.
"Cats are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
All farmers interviewed considered the cost of desexing and microchipping their cats as too high which can result in cat populations getting out of control, having a detrimental impact on native wildlife.
A farmer in cap and flannelette shirt holds a kitten, with two cows behind them
Ben Winter with a kitten on a dairy farm in Candelo. (Supplied: Sam Holmes)
Ms Holmes said desexing their working cats was not previously an option because of the cost involved.
She said other costs also eat into the family finances.
"We treat our cats with tick treatment," she said.
"That's just an extra cost that we're taking out of our own pocket, not out of the business."
Tax deduction could be win-win
The United Kingdom and the United States both allow farmers to make tax deductions for the upkeep of their working cats, but the Australian Tax Office only recognises horses and dogs as working animals — provided they are trained for the role and are not pets.
Any change in Australia would require change to tax rules and state and federal law reforms.
Ms Forge said making treatments tax deductible would be a win-win for farmers and conservationists.
According to the Invasive Species Council, cats kill more than a billion native animals a year.
"If we give an incentive for these cats to be managed with tax deductibility, then that will mean less cats.
"When cats are desexed, they roam less and they stay much closer to home."
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Posted7m ago7 minutes agoFri 14 Mar 2025 at 10:40pm
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