Much of the debate on farm animal welfare changes has centered on major infrastructure shifts such as facilities improvements and housing approaches. However, arguably the greatest challenge, and also opportunity, facing animal agriculture may lie not in the physical environment but rather in the mindset of producers. The human factor is a powerful one in […] Read more
Tag Archives animal welfare
Saputo announces animal welfare policy
Dairy Farmers of Canada welcomes the company’s move to enforce quality controls by setting pain and procedure regulations
Saputo, a Montreal based dairy processor, says it will refuse milk from farms that fail to treat cows humanely. The new policy is expected to be implemented across Saputo’s operations in Canada, the United States, Australia and Argentina. In a June 1 news release, the company announced it would not accept milk from farms that […] Read moreUniversity eager to use donation to educate veterinarians, farmers
A major donation to support animal welfare research at the University of Guelph will be devoted to further education for veterinarians and producers. Dairy giant Saputo donated at total of $1 million to the Universities of Guelph and Wisconsin to develop more courses for those working with cows. Guelph plans to create an intensive rotation […] Read more
Livestock transport needs work
Michelle Groleau’s office at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency receives regular complaints about cruel treatment of animals during transport. She told the Canadian Livestock Transport conference in Calgary May 6 that the only contact many people have with livestock is when they see animals being moved in trucks on the highway or at border crossings. […] Read more
Branding no longer essential for bison heading to U.S.
Canadian bison no longer need to be branded before export to the United States for breeding or feeding. Effective April 8, bison need a radio frequency identification tag and an accompanying dangle tag with the same number. Alternatively, they can have an RFID tag and a tattoo, although few bison producers tattoo their animals. Loss […] Read more
VIDEO: Animals treated better, but issues still exist
Calm down and stop screaming at cattle, says expert
Animal welfare has improved since the 1990s, but there’s still room for improvement, says a world renowned animal behaviourist. “Slaughterhouses were easy. They were easy fixes. We didn’t have to rebuild these plants to fix them,” Temple Grandin said of her pioneering work with major meat processors and buyers that brought improved handling, curved chutes […] Read more
Canada’s transport rules ‘embarrassingly far behind’
OTTAWA — Animal transportation is the next priority for Mercy For Animals. It’s the group responsible for recent undercover videos showing animal cruelty at the Western Hog Exchange in Red Deer and Chilliwack Cattle Sales in British Columbia. Krista Osborne, executive director for the group in Canada, was in Ottawa at the end of November […] Read more
Animal welfare innovation gets $5 million donation
MADDEN, Alta. — Attention to the details of animal care and welfare are a priority at W.A. Ranches. The philosophy was behind a $5 million donation to the University of Calgary’s faculty of veterinary medicine to support animal welfare research. The donation from Jack Anderson and his daughter, Wynne Chisholm, promotes research and innovation in […] Read more
Hog facility uses undercover video as training tool
An undercover video capturing poor treatment of pigs at a Red Deer assembly yard will be used as an employee training tool, says the chair of Western Hog Exchange. Brent Moen said staff and employees would go through the video frame by frame to help learn how to better handle hogs at the assembly yard. […] Read more
Would your farm portray a positive image on YouTube?
An animal rights group recently released a video taken with a hidden camera on a dairy farm in New Mexico. The images from Mercy for Animals showed workers beating cows with chains, using electric prods on the genitals of cattle and dragging cattle that couldn’t walk behind a tractor. The images were shown on every […] Read more
