When it comes to animal welfare, Canadian livestock producers are at a
disadvantage.
David Fraser, a University of British Columbia professor, said European
governments fund enforcement of regulations and provide assistance to
producers for research.
In United States, he said the government has a strong central control
and research body – the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As well, it has
large industrial livestock producers who can quickly meet the needs of
their fast food and grocery chain customers.
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In Canada producers are smaller and markets more diverse.
“The (U.S.) and Europe have some serious advantages when it comes to
standards in animal welfare …. This can put Canada running to keep
up, a problem as the world moves to harmonize animal production
standards,” said Fraser, who spoke at the Farm Animal Council of
Saskatchewan Jan. 11 meeting.
Fraser said Canadian society has allowed governments to shed
responsibility for research, development and implementation of animal
welfare and management strategies.
“It has been left up to the 10 pro-vinces, and 10 farm animal welfare
groups and numerous breed and livestock producers’ associations, to
come up with codes of practice that will meet the standards of more
organized nations and export customers.”
Fraser said producers who want to use the latest in livestock
production systems often must turn to Europe and elsewhere to find the
answers.
Nancy Lidster is one of those producers who looked abroad for the
latest solutions. The White Fox, Sask., area hog producer has
travelled to the United Kingdom and Sweden searching for better methods
in farrowing and feeding.
“When we built our first barn in 1981 we were both working in
(government or livestock industry) jobs,” said Lidster.
“We had access to the very best that was available at the time. We knew
we could do better than the concrete floors that were being
recommended. We tried the latest products. Sows fell down, piglets did
the splits, we changed, sows lost dewclaws, small piglets needed to be
fitted with floatation devices to keep from falling through.”
It was a long list as Lidster cited the many steps she and her husband
took over 20 years to improve animal welfare standards on their farm.
In Canada, “manufacturers tell you that you let your sows get too big
when the equipment doesn’t fit. Inspectors tell you and your lenders
that you’re not raising your livestock properly. Everybody thinks
you’re a little nuts for wanting to do anything that isn’t the current
accepted practice,” she said.
Lidster now spends part of her year explaining new production methods
to hog industry groups.
Harold Gonyou, a researcher at the Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatoon,
said Lidster is not the only producer who feels pressure from industry
to continue doing what has been done in the past
“Producers in Canada are being told how to raise their animals by banks
and investors and codes of practice that are designed to maximize
growth … and profit.”
New systems of production are seldom a part of these system designs, he
said. Allowing more space or converting to more socially acceptable
practices sometimes doesn’t work in reality.
“It may not be what people want to hear. But profits don’t necessarily
improve when we ‘un-crowd’ the animals.”
Individual animals may produce more and appear happier, but in many
cases overcrowding will produce more profit. He said banks and animal
confinement engineers are aware of that and it keeps some producers
from changing practices, as it is cheaper to build smaller facilities.
Gonyou said there must be more money available to the Canadian
livestock industry, universities and government to study animal
management if the situation is to change.
He said that would allow Canadian producers to compete internationally
and meet future consumer demands.
Fraser said Canadian producer associations’ codes of practice may hold
the key to that. He said much of the code is designed to ensure the
health of consumers, not animals.
“But as farmers become used to following these codes, they could become
used to following new animal welfare codes and Canada may be able to
find a way to keep up with the rest of the world …. But more research
is still going to be needed so those codes can be written,” he said.
