Animal Welfare

High rise piggeries and tech….

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I am all for Precision Farming, Smart Technology and data driven solutions…but this article in Pig Progress (!) caught my eye this morning for all the wrong reasons. There are now 62 of these high rise piggeries in production or under construction in China. The design is said to be suitable for all geographic locations and climate conditions. The company is now on Version 5, which means they are learning and improving all the time. This also means there are 4 previous versions, which are not quite so good and could be compromising the welfare of thousands of pigs. I […]

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BBFAW 2020 Report

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The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare has completed its ninth cycle of reviewing food company websites and reporting on their animal welfare journey.  Despite the challenges of 2020, 23 businesses improved their ranking by at least one tier, with two of these businesses moving up two tiers. Unfortunately 15 businesses dropped at least one tier, but of these 11 could have dropped due to the change in methodology alone. That is to say, if they were not in a position to make any positive changes against their 2019 results (perhaps due to key staff being furloughed or attentions being […]

Animal Welfare

Supporting #WoolwithaButt

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Livestock production systems must re-consider any “norms” which rely on management interventions which involve mutilations. It is time to think outside the box and look for non-invasive solutions.  Let’s take responsibility for our industries, identify the challenges and find the solutions before they are forced upon us by consumer campaigns. Traditional Merino sheep strains in Australia have woolly wrinkles and folds around the tail and breech area, which are highly susceptible to flystrike. For years, the prevention method has included the removal of the folds of skin around the breech. There are several methods for removing this skin using sharp […]

Animal Welfare

Give businesses a chance

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In October 2017 a global hotel chain made a commitment to move to cage free eggs by 2025. This commitment was applauded by the welfare groups. So why is that there is a Twitter campaign running, suggesting people boycott the hotels until they have kept their promise? How can Wyndham’s have broken their promise? We are only two years into an eight year transition! The business has a duty of care to their suppliers and the farmers in those supply chains. Change takes planning, financial investment and in this case construction or rebuilds. It is important to allow these companies […]