Program includes a workshop and farm visit to update livestock farmers on correct cattle handling procedures
Sao Paulo, July 11, 2018 – Temple Grandin, the world-renowned researcher, is visiting Brazil from July 16 to 19 to promote best practices in animal welfare in the livestock industry. Her scheduled includes the “Temple Grandin Animal Welfare” workshop, which is being held on July 18 and 19 at the Gamaro Theater in Sao Paulo. The researcher is visiting Brazil as a guest of JBS, Boehringer Ingelheim and Tortuga®, a DSM brand, in partnership with the Etiology Research and Study Group (ETCO), coordinated by Mateus Paranhos, a professor at the Paulista State University (UNESP) in Jaboticabal.
Temple suffers from autism and can identify details that go unnoticed by most other people and she has a unique understanding of animal behavior. Based on this, she developed what is now referred to as “rational handling” at production units, proposing a range of recommendations that have helped to improve cattle welfare and reduce the number of accidents.
Improvisation and haste are replaced with planning and calm, focusing on basic elements of understanding how cattle move and react during handling. For example, production facilities are adapted to use what is referred to as the “curved corral”, along which animals travel more easily and calmly because they are under the impression they are returning to their starting point. With the advantages offered by these techniques, herds are calmer and output improves.
Today almost half the cattle in the US are processed at facilities designed by Temple. Her guidelines have spread around the world and to Brazil, where many researchers and farmers have adopted her ideas and recommendations and achieved very positive results, such as better use of meat. For example, the JBS plants in Campo Grande (MS) and Diamantino (MT), in Brazil, were built around designs Temple developed.
The highlight of this trip to Brazil will be the researcher’s first visit to a farm in the Mid-West to see a herd of cattle and find out more about Brazilian farming practices. The farm chosen is the Orvalho das Flores, located in Araguaiana (MT) and owned by Carmen Martins Perez, who is chair of the Women’s Agribusiness Center (NFA) and one of Brazil’s most important animal welfare influencers. The property produces 1,200 calves a year and Temple will assess the system of procedures used for birthing and weaning and teach how to handle cattle “kindly”.
Along similar lines but later in her schedule, the researcher will meet with some of Brazil’s foremost research groups in Sao Paulo to contribute to some of the animal welfare projects being developed in Brazil. She will meet with the researchers at a presentation of academic work on July 19, at the Gamaro Theater.
Also known as an activist in causes related to autism, Temple Grandin will talk about the issue with parents and carers of people diagnosed in the autistics spectrum. The researcher herself requested this opportunity to share her experiences and inspire parents of autistics children with her life story. The meeting will take place on July 17, at the Gamaro Theater. Temple was also diagnosed as autistic while a child and is now held up as one of the movement’s biggest symbols worldwide.
Animal welfare in the production chain
Animal welfare practices are based on science and are intended to assess and support emotional health and natural behavior so that animals are able to enjoy a better quality of life. In practical terms, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) supports adoption of a new principle, “a life worth living”, which generally means minimizing negative experiences while, in parallel, providing animals with opportunities to have positive experiences. This approach involves reviewing and possibly updating minimum standards in welfare codes. These procedures are increasingly relevant for both the industry and end consumers, who want to see companies complying with best animal welfare practices during animal protein production.
For example, JBS has invested over R$ 45.2 million in the past two years improving animal welfare practices across its Brazilian operations, which include beef, pork and poultry production processes. JBS employs specialist, multidisciplinary teams for each type of protein who are constantly evolving. Last year alone, JBS trained around 15 thousand employees and farmers as part of its effort to implement best practices across the production chain. JBS also has an Animal Welfare Committee, with representatives from the Sustainability, Quality, Animal Welfare, Agriculture and Livestock areas.
For the past 64 years, Tortuga®, a DSM brand of nutritional supplements for cattle, horses, sheep and goats, has been helping to disseminate best animal welfare practices among livestock farmers. DSM has its own Bioethics and Animal Welfare Committee which is deeply involved in assessing all experimental protocols before they are implemented, in support of animal welfare and best handling practices. Via the innovative technologies in its vitamins, minerals, enzymes, eubiotics and carotenoids, DSM makes a significant contribution to animal welfare, improving health and making better use of available nutrients in order to maximize performance without producing stress. These nutritional technologies are applied in the field by a technical team to further strengthen Brazil’s tradition as a producer of high quality foods that focuses on animal welfare.
One of the main foundations at Boehringer Ingelheim, a global leader in animal health, is its commitment to animal welfare, both in the development and application of its products as well as the services and best practices it employs on livestock farms. This includes training course for cattle ranchers and handlers on meat and dairy farms, which are organized in partnership with the ETCO Group and BEA Consultoria e Treinamento. Explanatory videos showing best handling practices, including birth, weaning, rational vaccination and other essential procedures, help make livestock breeding even more efficient and sustainable.
About JBS
JBS is one of the world’s leading food industry companies with approximately 230 thousand employees in over 20 countries. The Company owns a portfolio of brands that are acknowledged for their excellence and innovation, including Friboi, Moy Park, Pilgrim’s Pride, Primo, Seara, Swift, Gold’n Plump and others, serving over 350,000 customers of more than 150 nationalities worldwide. The company’s focus on innovation also reflects its management approach to related businesses in areas such as leather, biodiesel, collagen, personal hygiene and cleaning products, natural wrappings, solid waste management solutions, metal packaging and transportation. JBS has adopted best sustainability practices throughout its value chain and constantly monitors its suppliers using satellite imagery, georeferenced maps of supplier farms and monitors official data from government agencies; the company also focuses on the highest possible food safety and quality standards. The success of JBS’s operations is closely tied to our Animal welfare practices, which are rigorously applied and have received an increasing share of investments to further improve the Company’s efforts in this area, in line with best practices.
JBS
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