FAWB forums

Improving animal welfare is a priority within the dairy and beef industries, however, it is important for producers to recognize that it may not always be possible to realize an economic benefit from these actions. “Sometimes the economic outcome of an animal welfare measurement is redundant because it is just the right thing to do,” said Dr. Tye Perrett, Managing Partner with Feedlot Health Management Services, speaking at the 9^th Boehringer Ingelheim Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-being. “If it is the right thing to do, just do it. Use economics to drive other decisions.” This concept, and other strategies for better welfare that improve animal health and farm economics, were the focus of the expert forum held in Montreal, Canada in June 2016. More than 80 international delegates heard presentations by North American and European experts and veterinary researchers on a range of topics including the role of big data in improving animal welfare on dairy farms, social license in agriculture, and animal welfare audits.

While the dairy and beef industries focus on calves meeting key health measurements, animal behaviour and veterinary research suggests that farmers and veterinarians should consider the well-being of the calves a basic component of health. This and other factors impacting calf health were the focus of the 8^th Boehringer Ingelheim Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-being held in Ontario, Canada in June 2015. The Forum brought together dairy and beef calf researchers, practitioners and other industry professionals to present new information on how to better manage the early stages of a calf’s life, especially from a calf’s perspective. Speakers also talked about new ways of measuring and mitigating pain, sustainable agriculture, consumer attitudes towards farming, and approaches to communicate learnings to farmers.

Pain was listed as a top concern for cow welfare by veterinarians across nations – whether caused by lameness, mastitis or other disease. This came out of the animated group discussions led by farm animal welfare specialists Nina von Keyserlingk and Daniel Weary (University of British Columbia, Canada) during the Boehringer Ingelheim Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-being, held in Madrid on 13 June. Stress and behavioural restriction, whether due to inadequate housing, overstocking or management, were also listed as high priority concerns.
Veterinarians should take the lead in raising awareness and education, participants suggested. The identification of so-called “win-win” situations – on-farm welfare problems that could be easily improved and that would lead to increased productivity – were mentioned as a way to convince farmers. The theme of this year’s Forum, attended by over 70 practitioners from 18 countries, was ‘Pain and stress around parturition: the impact on mothers and their offspring’.

Clearer food labelling and increased veterinary involvement seen as key to meeting consumer demand for improved food chain transparency. The veterinary profession has just as important a role to play in promoting high farm animal welfare to the consumer as it does in helping to drive improvements on farm. This was one of the main messages delivered to the veterinary profession at the sixth Boehringer Ingelheim Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-Being in Bilbao, Spain.
Nearly 100 vets attending the forum were advised that clearer food labelling and greater involvement by vets in the farm auditing and advisory process would help meet growing consumer demands for transparency in the food chain.

On June 1^st 2012, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health hosted the 5^th Farm Animal Well-Being Forum which brought together industry experts on animal health, pain and behaviour from around the world. The two topics discussed in detail were culling and pain at parturition. A number of speakers looked at the issues surrounding culling and whether it is a welfare issue. The second half of the meeting looked at how painful parturition is to farm animals.

Aware of the fact that animal welfare has become a salient issue, Boehringer Ingelheim held its 4^th International Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-Being on 27^th May in Seville. The meeting was attended by some 100 participants from 14 different countries and was divided into three sections with a total of nine presentations. This year’s edition also saw the announcement of an upcoming website dedicated to the Forum. The Forum’s presentations showed that there is an urgent need to raise farmers' awareness of basic and easy-to-implement guidelines for interaction with their animals and to communicate these guidelines directly to the farming community.

Boehringer Ingelheim held its 3^rd International Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-Being in the heart of historical Barcelona. Some 100 participants from 10 different countries and a variety of scientific disciplines attended the meeting, including welfare scientists, behaviourists, veterinarians and representatives from the livestock industry. The forum’s practical approach and the speakers’ different fields of expertise allowed participants actively to engage on two of the driving forces behind welfare concerns: ethics and economics. The question-and-answer session offered a forum for interactive debate and revealed a potential gap between the opinions of some welfare experts and those of farmers.

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health held its 2^nd International Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-Being in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Over 80 participants from ten different countries and a variety of fields attended the meeting, including welfare scientists, behaviourists, veterinarians and representatives from the livestock industry. This diversity of backgrounds encouraged a multidisciplinary exchange of ideas.

Experts from around the world gathered recently in Cardona, Spain for the world’s first Farm Animal Well-being expert forum, organised by Boehringer Ingelheim. With speakers from institutions such as Iowa State University, Massey University, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, University of Guelph, Bristol University and others, the gathered delegates were updated on welfare studies from around the world.
The forum was presented in three main sections, as well as an introductory keynote speech by Professor Suzanne Millman of Iowa State University. These sections covered ‘how to read animal signals; assessing pain and discomfort’, ‘expressing the need for more education and awareness’ and ‘improved animal well-being is rewarding’.