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Research Areas & Projects |
Downer Benchmarking Project In 1994, AFAC identified the need to gather consistent province-wide data on unfit and downer livestock. In 1998 and 1999, this recommendation was again emphasized in an AFAC review of livestock ‘welfare’ related statistics, with the sole purpose of reducing the number of unfit/downer livestock in Alberta’s marketing channels. And, one again, in a 2002 AFAC Report of Livestock Transportation in Alberta (see Reports), the plea from truckers, marketers and producers was to fix the problem of unfit animals being trucked. The purpose of the Downer Benchmarking Project is to support improvement of the welfare of beef and dairy cattle, hogs and horses in Alberta that are being transported and/or destined for slaughter. Benchmarking will establish a standard by which Alberta’s livestock industry can evaluate its progress toward improvement of livestock welfare. For the purpose of this project, downers are identified “as animals that cannot rise, remain standing or walk without assistance.” The industry support for this project clearly indicates a willingness by livestock groups to tackle the situation. The collective support of enforcement agencies to record incidents of downers now enables measurement to take place—to help improve livestock welfare in Alberta. Participating agencies include: CFIA (federal abbatoirs), AAF (provincial abbatoirs), LIS (brand inspectors), Alberta SPCA, Alberta Transport, USDA (border). Alberta Milk, Alberta Beef Producers, Alberta Pork and Wild Rose Equine Ranching Association have committed to support the project and provide extension. This project will first identify and benchmark the incidence of downers in the four livestock species at provincial and federal processing plants, auction marts, the US border (leaving Alberta), and in transport. The second phase will be to use the information gathered to develop targeted extension materials to the livestock industry and educate producers on reducing the incidence of downers. The final phase will incluDe a further determination and analysis of industry progress toward the reduction of the instance of downers following industry education. The data collected will protect personal information and will only be used to evaluate industry trends and improvements. ALCOVE and the livestock industry are funding this project. (It is acknowledged that the BSE situation will impact this study.)
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