The Alberta Beef Industry Conference celebrated its eleventh year from Red Deer last month. With presentations and discussion largely based around the theme, “A Social License to Operate,” the conference demonstrated an impressive ability to address current issues in agriculture. A few of the topics were more specifically centred around animal care. Following an update on the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle, delegates heard about the code of practice currently being developed for feedlots.
Related: What’s next for the Beef Code of Practice
“The Feedlot Assessment Tool is a companion to the code,” said Bryan Walton, CEO of the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. “Basically, it provides a check-list and a guide for feedlot operators, just to…confirm that what they’re doing is keeping them on the right track and a reminder that we need to pay attention to animal care in intensive agriculture.”
The advisory committee hopes to have the feedlot-specific code ready for producers within the next 18 months.
To hear more from Walton on the 2014 Alberta Beef Industry Conference, and the developing feedlot assessment tool, check out the interview below:
Please register to read and comment.