Page 6 of articles about behaviour-welfare in Press releases

The Board of the CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork has adopted welfare indicators to be assessed in all relevant projects.

A surge of fast-food giants, pork producers, and grocers move to phase out gestation crates for pigs.

Since February, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Cracker Barrel, and Denny’s have announced that they will eliminate gestation crates from their supply chains, as have Kroger and Safeway, the nation’s top two supermarket chains, and Compass Group, the world’s largest food service company.

The goal of McDonald's ten-year plan, is to source all pork for its U.S. business from producers that do not house pregnant sows in gestation stalls by the end of 2022.

A low-cost solution for pig producers who have slat gaps that do not comply with EU regulations.

Our own Animal Welfare Council member, Dr. Temple Grandin, has noted the need for a well thought-out and thorough plan to successfully undertake a transition of this magnitude.

Consumer demand is increasing the need for transparency across the pork supply chain. To help promote the importance of pig welfare at slaughter, RL Consulting has developed a new, online pig welfare training course.

Welfare will continue to be a big issue in the pig industry and genetic selection for improved efficiency and ethics are not necessarily antagonistic to ethical production. Genetic selection can improve welfare and increase production ethically, Ed Sutcliffe told a Yorkshire conference organised by international pig-breeding company ACMC.

An East Anglian contractor has come up with a system that can literally smooth out potential areas of conflict between outdoor pig-keepers and arable farmers. While they tick all the welfare boxes, free-range sows are no respecters of the land. Their rooting and wallowing can leave paddocks looking like battle fields, with crater-like holes pitting the surface.

The recent cold snap is a reminder that winter is coming! Already, our practice is seeing upsurges in coughs and respiratory disease in pigs, probably triggered by fluctuations in temperature, says Paul Thompson, veterinary consultant to pig-breeding company ACMC Ltd.

Danish breeding pigs are in great demand from farmers in other countries

Tthe session will be taught by ISU animal science and veterinary medicine faculty members who are certified PQA Plus® trainers.

By using genes from the Chinese Meishan, over the past 12 years ACMC has developed an F1 hybrid, the AC1, that has an exceptionally placid temperament and is well suited to group systems, without compromising feed conversion, growth rate or lean meat percentage.

As of January 1, 2013 all gestating sows in the EU will have to be kept in group housing systems. Some pig producers have already made the switch to group housing but many still are still considering. For those still undecided, EuroTier 2010 comes at the ideal time to help producers make this strategic decision.

On Sunday 10 October, Chernigov Vladimir Vladimirovich, Deputy Head, Department Administrative and external relations MoA, was presented with the first editions of Cow Signals and Pig Signals in Russian.

The Farmex Dicam Daylength Controller is a software package that improves pig welfare, cuts costs and is good for the environment.