RED DEER – Educating livestock truckers has helped improve the health of farm animals shipped to auctions, feedlots and packing plants.
Teaching people how to do the job properly is more beneficial than writing them a ticket, said cpl. Dave Heaslip, an RCMP livestock investigator in northern Alberta.
“With the number of livestock we have got in Alberta and in Canada, we have to take a totally different approach to how we are dealing with people,” he told the Alberta Farm Animal Care Association’s annual meeting in Red Deer March 26.
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The association offers certified livestock transportation courses based on government regulations that teach truckers about animal behaviour and proper handling.
“We try to educate and work with transporters to ensure compliance with our regulations,” said Heather Willis, an animal health inspector for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency who works with truckers in central Alberta.
She said the industry needs qualified drivers, especially as more public scrutiny arises over cases when things go wrong. It also pays when animals arrive healthy, she added.
“If you entrust your carefully raised animals to a poor transporter, you are taking a major step backward,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter how well you are doing on the farm. If you have a transporter that comes in and stresses those animals or overloads those animals, you have just impacted the quality of the product you are sending to market.”
The courses are not mandatory, but more businesses are demanding certification to deliver animals.
“Our regulations don’t say they have to have this training, but market forces are coming,” Willis said.
“It is getting to the point where you won’t be able to transport livestock without a certificate.”
Training and certification also gives companies the confidence to say they will not accept certain animals. As a result, fewer unfit cattle and horses are arriving at auction yards.
Courses are also offered to emergency first responders, teaching them animal behaviour, sorting and rescue.
Between 50,000 and 75,000 animals are on Alberta highways each day with more travelling during the fall.
“Accidents will happen and the frequency goes up with more units on our highways,” Heaslip said.
Municipalities are urged to provide more emergency trailers. Red Deer County has one, but Heaslip said handling accidents would be easier if there were at least four in the province.
