The NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare observes the public’s scrutiny of animal care and ethics of production can only be expected to increase.
Research conducted through the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare Research Program will be highlighted as part of a forum scheduled for Day One of the 2024 Banff Pork Seminar, January 9th.
Dr. Yolande Seddon, an Associate Professor Swine Behavior and Welfare with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare, says animal welfare is a huge component of sustainability for the pork industry in terms of public trust and making sure that we can produce meat efficiently and humanely.
The questions that the industry is being asked with regards to animal care and ethics of production environments are only increasing so it became very clear that there would be a benefit of having a targeted structured strategic move by the industry to invest in an increase in animal welfare research to support the industry to respond proactively to the evolving questions and needs that need to be addressed regarding animal care and swine welfare.
When talk about a proactive approach, the NSERC Industrial Research Chair Program is specifically looking at, if you’re rearing pigs in a fully slated system how do we optimize the pathway to support the pig to have high welfare, and then secondly how do we measure and monitor animal welfare better so that we can address questions over chronic states of animal welfare and how do we have a monitoring system so that we can communicate how animal welfare is in the pork industry to support transparency and also feed back to producers to support continual improvement?
~ Dr. Yolande Seddon, Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Seddon says the sector needs to provide assurance that our production practices are meeting the ethical standards that are expected of today’s pork value chain.
For information on the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare Research Program or to register for the Banff Pork Seminar forum, search swinewelfare.com or swinewelfare.ca.
