Page 51 of articles about behaviour-welfare

In 2001, the EU decided that all sows must be housed loose by 2013, giving the pig producers 12 years to adapt. In Denmark, this legislation was introduced in 1998. To form an impression of the situation in Denmark, Hatting-KS, the Danish Pig Producers’ Association and Pig Research Centre forwarded questionnaires to all Danish sow farmers with more than 100 sows asking them about their expectations of 2013.

After several hours of intense discussion and deliberation, the swine subcommittee for the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board decided to remove an exemption in its recommendations, that would have allowed existing swine producers to expand their stall-based facilities beyond 2025.

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Animal Health and Welfare was asked to deliver a Scientific Opinion on the welfare of animals during transport. An ad hoc expert working group was established in response to the request which made use of the information provided by stakeholders during the Technical Meeting held on 13 October 2010. The scientific opinion on the welfare of animals during transport was adopted by the AHAW Panel on 2nd December 2010.

264 audits are planned for the 2011 programme, corresponding to roughly 4,800 auditor days on the ground, travel time excluded.

BPEX and the University of Bristol are leading a major research project to develop a system of assessing pig welfare using welfare outcomes as indicators. Along with the current welfare ‘inputs’, such as stocking density and pen enrichment, producers will be able to demonstrate welfare from the pig’s perspective.

The European Commission welcomes the announcement made earlier this week that several main actors in the pig meat chain have agreed on a plan to voluntarily end the surgical castration of pigs in Europe by 1 January 2018.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, has announced funding of $100 million for world-class collaborative research and innovation under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres.