The National Farm Animal Care Council is confident a revised Pig Code of Practice will be ready for public comment before a June 1 target date.
The National Farm Animal Care Council, a partnership of diverse stakeholders working to promote farm animal care and welfare, is overseeing the development of updated codes of practice for the care and handling of eight different species of farm animals.
The codes cover such aspects as housing, management, food and water, health, transportation and euthanasia and are intended to promote sound management and welfare practices.
NFACC general manager Jackie Wepruk says the goal is real progress on farm animal welfare while maintaining the viability of Canadian animal agriculture.
Clip-Jackie Wepruk- National Farm Animal Care Council:
We anticipate that the Pig Code Development Committee will be able to meet a June 1, 2013 target for the start of the Pig Code’s public comment period.
The code will then be made public on NFACC’s website.
That allows anyone to provide feedback as they’d like.
Following the public comment period the Code Development Committee will consider the submissions that have been made, make any necessary edits and then submit a final code to the National Farm Animal Care Council to prepare for printing and final release.
Most codes, including the pig code, have had to deal with some common issues like how to address painful practices, how to address housing systems including space allowances.
These are topics where there can be some very diverse views so the goal is to reach a balance that’s good for the animals, achievable by producers and sustainable for the future in a way that also addresses market needs and expectations.
I think the members of the Pig Code Development Committee deserve many accolades for their dedication to this goal.
It certainly has been a challenging process.
Wepruk notes all of the codes are being updated through project based funding which ends December 31, 2013 so NFACC has limited flexibility to adjust timelines.
She says it’s important that the development of the updated pig code be finalized prior to the end of project funding so the process can be completed.
