Session 10 – BC Dairy System: Animal Welfare + Stakeholder Interests

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Describe key issues of animal welfare in the BC Dairy System
• Connect diverse stakeholder interests and values to the conception of animal welfare concerns

Required Readings and Resources

• Ventura, B. A., Keyserlingk, M. A. G. von, & Weary, D. M. (2014). Animal Welfare Concerns and Values of Stakeholders Within the Dairy Industry. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 28(1), 109–126. Accessed through UBC Library.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) over 56 billion farm animals are slaughtered annually (excluding fish). With a growing population and increase in meat based diets, the FAO estimates that global demand for meat and dairy consumption will grow by 78% and 53% respectively between 2010 - 2050. The large majority of farm animals are raised in industrial agricultural systems that are known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or also called ‘factory farms.’ Returning the productivist paradigm introduced in previous lectures, CAFOs are designed to maximize efficiency and yield and these systems come at a high cost to both environmental sustainability and animal welfare. With the industrialization of meat production and growth of CAFOs, animal welfare concerns have become a key food system issue. There is thriving debate over the ethics of eating meat and dairy altogether as well as debate over ethical production standards for meat. In this week’s session we focus on the concept of animal welfare which broadly refers to the well-being or quality of life of animals. Animal welfare science seeks to understand what constitutes the well-being of animals and to inform the implementation of policies and practices to improve the welfare and humane care of animals in agriculture (and other areas).

Animal welfare takes into consideration the animals physical health, mental/emotional health and their ability to exhibit natural behaviours. One framework for animal welfare that has become widely applied is that of the five freedoms first developed by the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council which are as follows:

1. Freedom from hunger or thirst by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
2. Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
4. Freedom to express (most) normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind
5. Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering

Animal welfare is understood differently by different stakeholders whose perspectives are informed by differing sets of values. Animal welfare standards need to be implemented at all stages of the production including rearing on farm, transportation, and slaughter. Within the BC dairy system some key animal welfare concerns are housing conditions, disease and lameness in cows, management of sick cows, euthanasia, cow-calf care and separation, tail docking, mastitis, de-horning of bulls, and pain/discomfort during slaughter.

In the face of widespread criticism of the conditions of livestock in CAFOs, animal welfare has become a growing public concern and as a result a growing issue that is being addressed by industry and policy makers and BC and globally. In BC and Canada there are laws that regulate the handling of animals (e.g. B.C.’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act), there are sets of national and provincial industry standards of care (e.g. National Dairy Code of Practice), and organizations that support the implementation of animal welfare practices (e.g. BC SPCA and BC Farm Animal Care Council (BCFACC)). Despite animal welfare legislation and codes of practice mistreatment of animals in livestock systems remains a widespread issue that requires ongoing work. The BC Dairy System is unfortunately not immune from animal welfare challenges and violations as evidenced in a recent documentation of the abuse of dairy cattle by workers on a dairy farm in the Fraser Valley. See the CBC article and video title BC Dairy Association Animal Welfare Response in the additional materials section for reporting on the story and industry response.

The podcast below provides insight into another aspect of our messy relationship with other-than-human species.

• PODCAST: RadioLab Episode on big game hunting. This episode explores a challenging animal welfare topic: are we ever justified in killing an endangered animal?

Tutorial Session

Group Presentation on Week’s Readings

• In your tutorial session, one group will be responsible for presenting and facilitating a discussion on the week’s readings. See assignment description and rubric for requirements.