Everyone involved in livestock production, transport, sale and processing must be on the front foot, in addressing animal welfare issues, says a leading expert in the field.
Animal Welfare Science Centre Director Dr Andrew Fisher told the Australian Livestock and Saleyards Association conference, in Melbourne, animal welfare standards were higher than they had ever been.
But he said the industry would always be under scrutiny.
“The best place to be is to put our front foot forward, to optimise where we are at,” Dr Fisher said.
“There will be someone, somewhere, who will have a bad day and might do something, which is not ideal.
“It will be captured on a mobile phone camera.”
But he said that should be a ‘blip’ on the background of ongoing good practice, training and management.
“Eventually animal welfare will become entirely embedded in the way we do things,” he said.
“If we have the level of oversight to ensure the day to day management is in line with community expectations, in line with what we know it ought to be, we can make it a part of how we do business.”
He said the challenge would be to ensure the occasional bad practice was not able to overwhelm the ongoing good work, the overall transparency and good record of the sector.
Dr Fisher said the key animal welfare issues members of the public became upset about were confinement of animals, such as hens in cages and sows in stalls, practices that caused pain and long distance transport of livestock for economic benefits.
But Australians ranked rank animal welfare as of lower importance than health, rising prices, family relationships and even tax reform.
“For the majority of people, animal welfare is not what they think about first in the morning and the last thing when they go to bed at night,” Dr Fisher said.
“But they have an expectation that where we use animals, for farming, or in the livestock supply chain, they are appropriately managed.
“If they are presented with evidence this is not happening, they get upset.”
The centre was carrying out research, which would be used to help develop post farm gate training programs, to be released in the next few years.
A comprehensive survey had been done of nearly 480 Australians, who were asked 142 questions, to find out how much they knew abut farming and livestock practices.
The use of animals for food was generally broadly accepted, with the wool and dairy industries viewed most positively, he said.
The survey found most respondents felt livestock farmers generally had good welfare practices.
“There is also a reasonable level of trust in people transporting livestock, unless it is by sea,” Dr Fisher said.
Animal welfare had moved beyond a legal framework, and into the area of social and public pressure.
Social media had influenced consumer buying behaviour, or marketing and anti-marketing campaigns.
“There is a complete shift in egg sales and how they are marketed in shops,” Dr Fisher said.
Increasing urbanisation had led to the disconnect of understanding as to how animals were farmed, handled and how the whole supply chain worked.
“It’s inevitable, it’s just the way things are,” Dr Fisher said.
“We are not going to change that demographic shift.”
He said it was interesting to see the number of animal welfare incidents being reported.
“One of the interesting things, when I talk to State government vets, is that the number of reporting of incidents has actually increased – quite significantly – over the last five years.
“Often people doing the reporting, are from within the sector, rather than people from outside,” he said.
He said community expectations, around animal welfare, would continue to grow.
“Those of us in the sector are aware that when something wrong is happening, it’s better off to get it fixed than have that practice, or incident, representing a risk to the overall industry and sector.”
Dr Fisher said prosecution was often the last resort, with the majority of responses beinf to educate or ask for correction of a practice.
