NCERA219: Swine Production Management to Enhance Animal Welfare
Statement of Issues and Justification
Issue/JustificationPork production systems in the United States and globally have changed considerably over the course of the past five years, with change driven primarily by a combination of economic (increased feedstuff costs, stagnant domestic demand, and an oversupply of pigs) and societal (zoonotic influenza concerns, state-based animal welfare legislation and initiatives, and an increased perception of consumers showing a desire to know how/where their food is produced) issues. In many cases, swine producers have persevered through these tough conditions; however, the swine industry, like all livestock-based food producing segments, continues to face an uncertain future with regard to maintaining economic viability in the presence of known and unknown future challenges related to animal welfare and production system standards and technologies. Coupled with continued reductions in federal- and state-based funding for land-grant scientists and research facilities within most university settings, future impactful research will come as a result of the pooling of resources and talented research personnel across state and global lines. Renewal of the existing NCERA-89 Multi-state collaborative research project offers an opportunity to lead the U.S. swine production sector into the next decade by building on an excellent track-record of current, issues-based, and forward thinking applied swine management and animal welfare research and outreach efforts that have been adopted by the U.S. swine industry in the past. The progression from development to implementation of a new technology cannot be completed without the middle step, evaluation. New technologies can be evaluated in various ways by many different entities within the swine industry. Large, coordinated pork production systems can evaluate a technology within their production system and determine whether the technology is valuable. Typically, these results are not public information. Commercial companies can evaluate management practices and technologies on their client's operations but the results may be viewed as biased or not relevant to producers in other regions of the country. In addition, independent pork producers can evaluate a technology on their operation but often do not have the expertise, time, or equipment to conduct a scientifically valid study. So, the NCERA-89 committee plays an important role in providing unbiased, research-based knowledge to the pork industry domestically and internationally.
The NCERA-89 committee has traditionally focused on applied swine management issues related to animal welfare, production efficiency, and standards of production. Proposed and existing challenges to common animal rearing conditions and practices (i.e. space/feeder/waterer allowance, animal care and well-being in relation to pig housing alternatives in all stages of production, alternatives to castration, tail docking, etc.) will require sound science to understand and implement the alternatives being suggested. History suggests a very strong commitment by the NCERA-89 group in taking a proactive approach toward identifying and solving critical swine production, management, and animal welfare issues. Committee members represent a broad discipline base with specific technical and research training in nutrition, facility design and ventilation, animal care, animal behavior, economics, and general management. Cooperative, coordinated research among experiment stations permits evaluation of technologies in research units located throughout the U.S. and Canada. In addition, the majority of committee members are experienced extension educators that are actively involved in state and national educational program development and delivery.
The NCERA-89 committee has a long history of conducting successful cooperative research across universities and with support and funding from industry partners. Much of the research findings reported by the NCERA-89 committee have been implemented in the United States and globally including recent research related to elevated levels of vomitoxin in swine nursery diets (in cooperation with NC-42), swine feeding practices across pig size, and continued work to assess optimal pig housing standards. Renewal of the NCERA-89 committee, in a critical time for maintaining the competitive balance of the U.S. swine industry globally, will optimize resources within and across institutions while meeting stakeholder expectations. The committee continues to challenge the industry and producers to be better animal stewards and to encourage necessary change based on sound scientific as well as general ethical responsibilities. Failure of the U.S. swine industry to maintain strong research and technical aspirations will ultimately lead to movement of swine production to other nations and lead to reliance on others to provide U.S. citizens with a safe, wholesome, high-quality, and affordable food supply.
Back to Top