Downloadable presentations now available!
The second annual RSPCA Qld World Farm Animal Day Symposium examined the animal welfare challenges of intensive farming production, and brought together representatives from academia, government, industry and academia. We thank all who attended and made the 2009 Symposium a success.
Animal law in Australia: an introduction to the regulatory framework
Mr Jackson Walkden-Brown, Senior Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Law, Bond University
Download presentation
Animal Law is now taught in nine universities across the country. The curriculum focuses on the ethical and legal issues arising out of the commercial use of animals and animal products. Understanding the regulatory framework in which these ethical and legal issues arise is the starting point for anyone with an interest in this area.
Animal protection laws have existed since the early 19th century. So have the regulatory systems improved since then? Of course. Have they improved enough is a different question entirely. What is the status of animals in our legal system and why do we need laws to protect them? What are the key philosophical theories relevant to the examination of the human/animal relationship? Who exactly is responsible for developing policy and enacting laws regarding animal welfare? Is there a difference between legislation and codes? Who is responsible for enforcing animal welfare laws? These are all questions that need answering.
Welfare challenges of intensive pig production systems
Prof Paul Hemsworth, Director, Animal Welfare Science Centre
Download presentation
There appears to be increasing community concern with society’s treatment of animals. Confinement housing of livestock such as those common in modern pig production appears to be at the forefront of these concerns and raises a number of questions, including the following: What is the best type of housing to provide and on what basis? Is outdoor housing better than indoor housing? What are the space allowance requirements of animals? What are the adverse consequences of housing sows in stalls? Comparisons of the effects of different housing systems on animal welfare are difficult because of the wide variation across systems, and because specific design features within systems often have greater effects on welfare than differences between systems. Rather than attempting to provide an overall assessment of housing systems, perhaps a more useful research approach in improving animal welfare is to identify and address the key welfare issues for each of the main housing systems.
In relation to pig housing, the most contentious animal welfare issue is housing of dry (non-lactating) sows. Increasing community concern about confinement housing has led internationally to legislation to increase the use of group housing for gestating sows. Industry experience, however, indicates that the opportunity for group housing to improve sow welfare is presently limited by the high level of aggression that is commonly observed in newly formed groups of sows. Furthermore, there are few recommendations in the scientific literature on the design features of sow group housing that reduce aggression. Housing in intensive management systems may cause chronic stress. Consequently, from a welfare perspective there is an imperative to minimise housing stressors and therefore this is an important challenge for both research and the pork industry.
Myths of intensive farming of pigs
Mr Aeger Kingma, Pork Producer
Download presentation
Abstract not available
Keynote address: Poultry welfare challenges in cage, barn and free-range production systems
Dr Phil Glatz, Senior Research Scientist – Livestock Systems/Associate Senior Lecturer, South Australian Research and Development Institute
Laying hens are housed in a diversity of production systems. These are classed as alternative, enriched cage and traditional cage systems. Cage layer facilities in Australia comprise single-tier or multiple-tier systems. Alternative systems include single-level barn systems with or without access to a range area.
Welfare of birds in production systems is usually assessed on the basis of the ‘five freedoms’. Barn and free-range systems allow the birds to perform more natural behaviours and they have greater freedom of movement. However, birds in cage systems generally have higher production and reduced risks of mortality from viral, bacterial and parasitic infections and cannibalism, satisfying components of the other freedoms. Enriched cages enable hens to expand their repertoire of behaviours but a number of welfare and production issues still remain to be resolved. Likewise, alternative systems need further improvement to overcome the risk of higher bird mortality.
Monitoring compliance with compulsory welfare requirements in Queensland: the poultry model
Dr Lawrence Gavey, Biosecurity Queensland
Download presentation
The Queensland system for regulating animal welfare features a number of innovations. It establishes the legal ‘duty of care’ for a person in charge of an animal, identifies clear levels of care by reference to agreed codes of practice, makes compulsory key standards, and enables programs for monitoring compliance with compulsory standards.
When new national poultry welfare standards were agreed in 2001, Queensland acted quickly to put those standards into law in 2003. These standards apply across the range of poultry production systems, including caged, barn and free-range egg production, meat chicken production, and ‘backyard chooks’.
The most important changes to improve poultry welfare brought by the 2001 standards are to increase the space allocation for caged layers and to specify cage housing which meets the birds’ needs for height, flooring and door size. These changes became mandatory for most cages from 2008.
The Queensland Government is developing a program to monitor compliance with the compulsory poultry welfare standards. This program will be based on audits of poultry facilities by authorised officers. It will also recognise industry quality assurance programs as alternative monitoring tools, where the QA program is approved as meeting the needs of government monitoring. Implementation of this monitoring program is due to commence in late 2009.
A monitoring program for new pig welfare standards will also be developed, once the poultry monitoring program is established and national agreement on compulsory pig standards is achieved.
Compulsory welfare standards for other livestock industries, such as land transportation and rodeos, are being set and monitoring programs will be developed for these, too.
Humane and sustainable agriculture in a climate of change
Ms Carole de Fraga, Regional Representative – Oceania, Compassion in World Farming
Download presentation
Climate change is an issue of increasing importance, particularly in the field of agriculture. With a global population now in excess of six billion and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation claiming that resource-hungry meat production will more than double between 2001 and 2050, the sustainability of the food supply is in doubt even before the full impacts of climate change are known.
More intensive agricultural production is seen by many as a solution to food security. The current 60 billion animals a year used globally to produce meat, milk and eggs thus could rise to 120 billion by 2050. But this would have critical impacts upon the environment, fundamental resources and animal welfare.
The livestock sector is responsible for 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and about 16 per cent of Australian national emissions. A massive increase in livestock production is expected to exacerbate global warming, affecting food security and the environment. It will also impact upon animal welfare if more farmed animals are subjected to intensive rearing systems and pushed to their absolute limits. Environmental and health concerns associated with red meat production are encouraging consumers to purchase more chicken, pork and fish. However, these alternatives to red meat increasingly will come from intensive production systems unless consumers become more discerning in their food choices.
Compassion in World Farming believes that solutions to the problems of sustainable food production lie with meat reduction and lower-input, more extensive farming systems. To achieve this we should work with the environment, not against it, with the aim of a secure and compassionate future for humankind and the many other sentient creatures with whom we co-habit.
Meat chicken farming: a grower’s perspective
Mr Steven Teitzel, President, Queensland Chicken Growers Association
Abstract available soon.
Welfare expectations of consumers and the poultry industries’ responses
Ms Marg Will, Consultant, Queensland Egg Farmers Association
Egg Producers must meet many stringent regulatory requirements when it comes to animal welfare. However, do these requirements meet consumers’ expectations?
Marketing theory often suggests that ‘the consumer is king’ or ‘the customer is always right’, but if this is true, then what has the egg producer done to meet consumers’ expectations and how can a producer monitor this?
What role does the egg industry peak body, Australian Egg Corporation Ltd (AECL), play in this and how do state egg industry associations assist producers? What roles do animal welfare groups play in developing and supporting consumers’ expectations?
Binning the spin: Voiceless responds to animal industry
Ms Ondine Sherman, Director, and Ms Katrina Sharman, Corporate Counsel, Voiceless
While the pain and suffering endured by animals raised in Australia’s intensive or ‘factory farms’ remained hidden for many decades, in recent times the public has become increasingly alarmed by the practices associated with large-scale animal production. Sow stalls, battery cages, and mutilations of pigs’ tails and chickens’ beaks without pain relief are just some of the activities that have come under increasingly greater scrutiny.
The efforts of animal protection groups such as Voiceless have ensured that the veil of secrecy is continually lifted. The Australian public are becoming more aware of the harsh realities of factory farming, realising that their long-held assumptions of farming practices akin to ‘Old McDonald’s Farm’ are no longer relevant.
This growing community awareness about the suffering of animals in intensive farms has prompted the development of a new strategy for many intensive animal industries. Animal industries have developed an interesting and effective public relations tool – their own language of ‘animal welfare’. This scientific and legal construct can be easily witnessed in media and public relations materials in increasing frequency.
In this presentation, Ondine Sherman and Katrina Sharman will draw upon ethics, science and law to challenge some of the pig and poultry industries’ animal welfare claims. The presentation will expose the extent of the public relations spin that is disseminated in an attempt to counter the emerging social justice movement of animal protection. It will seek to promote debate and discussion about the need for greater transparency, accountability and honesty in our communications about the way in which farm animals are treated.
