Expert forum believes measuring well-being is vital to improving lives of farm animals 

Each year this Forum brings together a range of veterinarians, producers, industry advocates and retailers to discuss the latest insights, challenges and opportunities to improve the lives of billions of animals that supply our meat, eggs and dairy products.

This year’s event focused on the intersection between animal well-being and international trade; the discussion centred not only on how to recognise and measure well-being, but also on how this relates to introducing standards in a global market where appetite and capacity for change is highly variable.

The Forum was opened by Andrew Palmer, Australia Country Manager, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Business Unit, who reiterated that animal well-being enriches humanity, one of the core beliefs of the company.

“This Forum is about creating connections, stimulating discussions, and reflecting on the role everyone can play in improving animal well-being,” he said.

Speakers talked about the challenge of understanding animal well-being from the animals’ perspective and recognising the difference between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’. Through this understanding, practitioners can then develop measures which bring objectivity to what can be an otherwise emotionally charged discussion.

This includes adopting a holistic approach that allows the industry to assess whole-of-life well-being, rather than simple point-in-time well-being. As one speaker noted, “small moments of pleasure do not equal welfare and small moments of pain do not equal suffering.”

Current research indicates that the way animals respond to stimuli from human interaction to transport can vary depending on their prior experience, so a wider lens can give a better view of well-being.

The Forum heard about a range of methods to assess well-being, including a move from resource-based measures, such as mortality or mastitis rates to animal-based measures that look at behaviours and response. 

Another important topic addressed at the event was the administration of analgesics during painful procedures. There was a broad consensus that the cost of administering pain relief may not always return in production gains, although there are measurable benefits around how quickly the animal returns to feed or demonstrates normal behaviours. In addition, considerable data show that consumers would pay more if animals are afforded a higher level of well-being, however, purchase data don’t fully reflect this yet.

A key outcome of the Forum was that right across the supply chain, there is a genuine will to improve well-being. There are both push and pull effects at play, with consumers contributing to demand for change in some markets, while countries with more advanced well-being practices are helping to filter down change in other markets.

One of the speakers, Dr Teresa Collins, an expert on animal welfare and veterinary ethics, summed up the challenge:

“Industry absolutely wants to get on board with animal well-being. We need measures that improve transparency, promote evidence-based decisions, can be taken quickly by a stockperson caring for animals. They also need to integrate with existing reporting requirements and need to work in very different environments.”

The Boehringer Ingelheim Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-Being was held in Australia from 30 May to 2 June 2018. Visit: www.farmanimalwellbeing.com(link is external) to find out more about this Forum and past events.

For any enquiries about and photographs from the Boehringer Ingelheim Expert Forum, please contact Emma Keogh emma.keogh@boehringer-ingelheim.com or Laurent Goby laurent.goby@boehringer-ingelheim.com