Photo by David Barr. Public Profile

Transcription

1 COVERSTORY By Bill Dimmick Photo by David Barr Public Profile Dairy cattle welfare has become an important focus of scientific research and policy to help ensure consumers continue supporting Canadian dairy products

2 Although dairy cattle may appear to have little in common with whales and walruses, recent controversy surrounding an aquarium and amusement park has shown just how deeply the public cares about how animals are treated. In short order, one man leading the protest against alleged mistreatment of sea mammals collected 76,000 signatures on a petition demanding Ontario legislation to protect animals housed in zoos and aquariums. Marineland, a major Niagara Falls, Ont. tourist attraction, captured headlines late summer. A Toronto newspaper published a series of investigative reports into claims by former Marineland staffers alleging mistreatment of sea mammals at the privately owned park, sparking outrage among many consumers. Surveys have continued to show most Canadian consumers believe dairy farmers take good care of their animals. Nevertheless, the Marineland controversy illustrates growing public concern about animal welfare, and underscores the value of a having a set of rules governing how animals should be treated, whether in an aquarium or a dairy barn. Public attitudes in North America toward animals have undergone a dramatic shift, starting in the 1960s, notes David Fraser, a University of British Columbia professor and a leading researcher into animal welfare. Fifty years ago, critics began to question modern agricultural practices such as battery cages for laying hens and crates for veal calves. Fraser, who has spoken widely on the subject, has traced and recorded the history of animal welfare issues in Europe and North America. In published papers, he explains how animal welfare concerns can be grouped into three main areas: their basic health and functioning, their affective states (freedom from pain or distress) and their ability to live in a way that suits their natural behaviour. However, Fraser says, different groups of people put different emphasis on these concerns, and their views don t always coincide. Pursuing just one of the three concerns offers no guarantee of meeting the other two. For practices and standards to be widely accepted as improving animal welfare, they need to strike a balance among all three, says Fraser, who has published a book on the subject, Understanding Animal Welfare: The Science in its Cultural Context. The Canadian dairy industry looked to strike that balance with the launch of a new Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle in The science-based code includes outcome-based animal welfare standards, such as realistic targets to reduce lameness, and certain requirements all Canadian producers are expected to follow, such as using pain control when dehorning calves. At the time the new code was being developed through the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC), MilkPRODUCER October

3 there was heightened concern about farm animal welfare in other developed countries, and several American states were passing animal welfare legislation, says Jeffrey Rushen, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. European governments passed legislation banning long-time farm practices such as battery cages for laying hens and tether stalls for pregnant swine. Legislation left dairy farmers relatively untouched except for a requirement to keep calves in groups after they reach eight weeks of age. As well, Swedish authorities required dairy cows to have some access to pasture, he notes. Although two-thirds of European consumers believed dairy cattle welfare was good or very good, the European Food Safety Authority reviewed the issue. It concluded in 2009 dairy cattle face several risks to their welfare, particularly from intensive housing, lack of pasture access and genetic selection for high milk production, says Rushen, based in Agassiz, B.C. On this side of the Atlantic, governments had generally left food retailers, including fast food chains like McDonald s, to establish their own standards, he says. As well, independent labelling systems developed, such as Certified Humane in the U.S. or the BC SPCA in Canada. This has meant third-party auditors visiting farms to determine how well they meet welfare standards. A major reason for this development was companies wanting to keep customers, Rushen explains. Symposium spotlights issues Discussions two years ago have led to the first-ever symposium dedicated to the welfare of dairy cattle. Dr. Ken Leslie, a University of Guelph professor, and Dr. Amy Stanton, who was then a PhD candidate, saw it as a way to showcase the tremendous advances Canadian researchers had been making on this crucial issue. Those discussions coincided with a call for proposals under an agreement between the University of Guelph and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This program provides funding for innovative methods of extension education to grassroots agricultural industries, explains Leslie, a key symposium organizer who has now retired as a professor. He and other important players in the research community believed dairy cattle welfare was timely and meaningful for the industry. Stanton, who has since joined the dairy faculty at the University of Wisconsin, was able to dedicate time to writing a detailed application for funding the event. The success of the International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare, held in 2008 and 2010, partly inspired the idea of a similar event for the dairy industry. In addition, over the last eight to 10 years there has been a tremendous amount of useful dairy research information, Leslie notes. Much of that information has emerged from the Dairy Education and Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. Moreover, Guelph s dairy research program has increasingly dedicated efforts to welfarerelated subjects, such as pain management, postsurgery care, dehorning, freestall housing and feeding management.. It was becoming abundantly clear that Canadian dairy researchers were leading the way in the study of dairy cattle welfare, Leslie says. It seemed appropriate that we take the lead in establishing a formal symposium forum. The grant application proved successful and planning began in earnest last year for the Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium, taking place in Guelph, Oct. 24 to 26. The decision to make the symposium relevant to and accessible for dairy farmers was an important factor in getting that support, he says. We have a goal to have a significant proportion of our delegates from the producer sector. The symposium organizing committee decided to focus on what it concluded were the most important aspects of dairy cattle welfare: - These topic areas represent the most important management challenges for dairy producers to maintain the well-being of their cattle, Leslie says. These issues are generally the most active subjects of current dairy cattle welfare research. Significant extension education is also taking place in these areas. Research presentations at the symposium represent a cross-section of the work being done, he says. Certainly, there is far more research being conducted, and extension education programs delivered, than is presented here, Leslie adds. However, it provides a flavour of some of the work being done. It may be possible to make the Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium a regular event, likely held every two years. Organizers of the beef symposium have used this formula successfully, he says. After successful events in 2008 and 2010, the beef industry held a 2012 symposium in Saskatoon, Sask. 28 October 2012 MilkPRODUCER

4 It seems that these non-legislative approaches have not fully satisfied critics or the public, he says in a paper presented to the Western Canadian Dairy Seminar in The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has run a highly successful campaign appealing directly to the public in states that allow citizen-led referenda. The result is farm animal welfare legislation in several states banning battery cages for laying hens, tether stalls for pregnant swine, and veal crates. Seeing voter appeal in animal welfare issues, U.S. politicians began to pass legislation directly. For example, California passed a bill prohibiting tail docking of dairy cows, he adds. Canada has traditionally taken a different route, relying on industryled voluntary codes of practice first developed in the 1980s. Since then, critics could label them insufficient compared with legislation or audited standards in the U.S. or Europe, Rushen says. It is against this background that the NFACC launched a new process to revitalize the codes of practice. A guiding principal was to base codes on science, he says. The new process established a more formal, objective and transparent process to bring research results into the codes. A scientists committee identified and reviewed research into key concerns. Developing the code itself was a committee comprising dairy producers, federal and provincial government representatives, transporters, food retailers, researchers, veterinarians and a representative from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies. An important principle of the NFACC process is that the codes be based on scientific evidence, and the scientific committee took pains to ensure the advice given to the code development committee was based on a broad scientific consensus, Rushen says. However, there was insufficient research on some issues for clear conclusions. Housing calves was one example. Producers commonly house calves individually, especially in outdoor hutches, believing it promotes better health by reducing disease transmission risk from one calf to another. Yet several surveys in the U.S. and Sweden show disease incidence in group housing can be as low as in individual hutches when producers keep groups small and well managed, Rushen says. Furthermore, there seems likely to be other advantages for animal welfare in group housing since calves in groups have more space to exercise and have greater opportunities for social contact. As a result, the new dairy code gives producers the option of keeping calves in individual housing or in small, well-managed groups. Group housing, combined with automated milk and grain feeders can reduce calf-rearing costs, he notes. We expect the dairy industry will BLOW THE BARN DOORS OFF WITH INSTANT SCC TESTING! milk Guardian Milk Guardian TM from Dairy Quality Inc. is an incredible new innovation in milk quality testing. Somatic Cell Count testing can now be done right in the milking parlor. Using Milk Guardian s patents pending technology and, amazingly, an iphone, accurate SCC readings can be determined in seconds, without the expense and time it takes to send samples off to the lab. Ensure healthier milk and earn more per batch with Milk Guardian from Dairy Quality Inc. Dairy Quality Inc. HELPING FARMERS MilkPRODUCER October

5 increasingly adopt this way of rearing calves as research examines the advantages with this type of system and identifies good management practices. While the new code has been heralded as a great step forward, the work remains incomplete. Canada s dairy industry still requires a mechanism of demonstrating to consumers the requirements and recommendations in the code are being followed, Rushen says. Canada s dairy industry is doing just that. It is developing an assessment program to measure how well farmers are adhering to the code of practice. Coincidentally, this development is taking place around the same time as the first-ever Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium is being held. Both Rushen and Fraser are featured as keynote speakers at the symposium, Oct. 24 to 26 in Guelph, Ont. It is bringing together nationally and internationally renowned keynote speakers, and offering research report presentations, hands-on workshops, poster sessions, an exhibit area and a networking reception. Dairy producers, researchers, veterinarians and other industry professionals from around the world are expected to attend (see sidebar on page 28). The fact the symposium has been organized reinforces the importance of the welfare issue for the industry, says Ron Maynard, a Prince Edward Island dairy producer and vice-president of Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC). Farmers have been looking after animals for years, says Maynard, who has been heavily involved in the assessment project as a DFC representative. Now we have to show how we are looking after them. The symposium is looking at details of how we can do it better. The assessment project is almost ready for a test pilot, set to begin in November and run through to March. DFC has been working on it through the NFACC since last March. This process lets DFC work with outside organizations, such as processors, MANAGEMENT SUCCESS WITH ROBOTIC MILKING Nov 13, 2012 Abbotsford, BC Open to anyone with a vested interest in robotic milking systems and barn design. Early bird discounts for those who register by the Nov. 6 pre-registration deadline. Don t be left out! Program details at under Events animal welfare advocates, researchers, vets and retailers. It has been important to include these groups rather than just have farmers themselves develop the program to ensure buy-in by the whole food chain, Maynard says. We want buy-in from these people to ensure this meets everyone s requirements, and we have one code in Canada, he says. In other jurisdictions, farmers sometimes have to deal with multiple codes or guidelines set by processors, retailers or restaurant chains. The assessment model also has to be truly Canadian, Maynard notes. We re trying to develop a model that is realistic on all farms across Canada large farms in southwestern Ontario to tiestalls in Quebec, or operations in British Columbia and Alberta that have different challenges. After the test pilot is completed, the program development team will review results and adjust the assessment model as needed, he adds. Our dairy code is seen around the world as proactive and ambitious, Maynard says. The development of an assessment program is a great opportunity to build on the strength of our code through a tool that will allow dairy farmers to demonstrate our commitment to top-notch animal care and welfare. Maynard agrees the code can be somewhat likened to the Canadian Quality Milk (CQM) program that lets dairy farmers show how they are producing high-quality milk. The assessment will let them demonstrate how they take good care of their animals. The welfare of the cattle is vitally important to the farmer, of concern to the consumer and we do a good job in Canada, he says. It s a selling point we want to emphasize. We can use it as a marketing tool to show consumers what they are buying is produced using Canadian standards for labour, environment and, in this case, animal welfare. It s all part of the whole image portraying 100% Canadian Milk. 30 October 2012 MilkPRODUCER