Sustainable supply chain solutions
Outcome measures crucial in battle for animal health
Temple Grandin, the renowned American doctor of animal science, was the world’s first proponent of outcome measures as a way of assessing the health and wellbeing of animals on farm and in abattoirs – a technique that she pioneered at meat processing plants in the US. Today, her teachings are being adopted worldwide – and the team of animal welfare specialists at AB Sustain, the food and agriculture sustainability experts, are firm supporters.
But what exactly are outcome measures? Traditionally, farm assurance assessments involve looking at input measures such as feed quality and cubicle size, collecting the data and then ticking the boxes. But that method of assessing animal health is being turned on its head, according to Johanna Buitelaar Warden, head of animal welfare at AB Sustain.
“Input measurements can come out looking perfect on paper but, in reality, there could be some underlying problems on the farm or at the abattoir,” she says. “Outcome measures involve starting at the other end of the chain i.e. looking at animal behaviour to identify and assess where the root causes of illness and discomfort are. For example, by looking at the incidence of on-farm issues such as pneumonia, lameness and mastitis, we can pinpoint where the problem is precisely, allowing us to deal with it more efficiently. It means we can trace all the outcome records back to a root cause – and address that root cause.
“For example, if cows are standing up in their cubicles, it may be because they are not comfortable lying down. A traditional input measure, i.e. looking at the size of the cubicle or the bedding material, potentially would not show up that there is a problem – the only thing that will identify if there is an issue is assessing if cows are standing up or lying down, and then working backwards to find out where the problem may be.
“In an abattoir, the outcome measures we would look at include vocalisation in animals pre-slaughter, or how often they slip, fall or bunch up in a certain area – in essence, identifying any area where there is a recurring problem, but where the problem may not be evident immediately to us as humans.”
For farmers and abattoir owners, the ability to get straight to the heart of the problem brings a wealth of benefits – it means they are no longer wasting time in areas where there are no animal health issues, but are instead focusing on what really matters, according to Buitelaar Warden.
“Measuring outcomes can bring with it potential to save costs,” she explains. “While in some cases there may be an initial outlay required to bring the systems involved up to scratch – although this can often be quite small, i.e. simply removing a shadow on an abattoir floor so the animals don’t stop and need to be goaded on – potentially these changes may mean reducing the amount of staff needed to deal with animals in the long term.
“Issues such as lameness, mastitis and fertility cost British farmers a huge amount of money a year, and at a time when margins are tight, any processes that can save money are welcome news. AB Sustain has worked with leading retailers and processors for many years on outcome measurement, and now we are busily implementing these kinds of measures on farm for our clients.”
AB Sustain offers animal welfare consultancy, training and auditing at farm level, during transport and at abattoir. These services include pre-audit preparation, animal handling, humane slaughter, and the development of bespoke animal welfare standards.