Assessment Of Animal Welfare In The 2017: Revision Of The Veal Code Of Practice
Summary
The veal code of practice was revised in November 2017, approximately 20 years after the publication of the previous veal code of practice in 1998. To assess current welfare issues relevant to the handling of veal cattle a scientific committee was formed. The new code focused on welfare issues that influenced cattle welfare via biological functioning, affective states, and natural living. From these areas, one of the major prioritized concerns regarded housing systems. A major change to this sect includes mandating group housing by 8 weeks of age to promote socializing and normal behaviours. In addition, prior to 8 weeks of age, individual calves must now be provided with sufficient space to allow for appropriate movement, indicative of comfort. Further, the updated code prohibits tethering of calves as a means of promoting activity, locomotor play and REM sleep. Success of the changes is promoted by the ability of enforcing regulation or industry action if requirements are not met. However further research on veal animal welfare is needed without the supplementation of literature on dairy calves.
Introduction
During November of 2017 the Canadian Veal Association (CVA) and The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) released a revised version of their code of practice for veal cattle. The revision replaces a previous code developed by the Canadian AgriFood Research Council (CARC) published in 1998. The updating of the veal code fits with NFACC’s commitment to produce consensus reports from stakeholders, thereby bringing in producers, animal scientists, veterinarians, animal welfare specialists, and government input. Throughout the past 20 years, major changes have been made in veal industry practices with the influx of animal welfare research. Creation of the new code began in 2015, and involved a veal cattle code scientific committee, which collaborated to address priority issues based on scientific research. Assessment of new animal welfare concerns involved addressing three categories of welfare, these included: normal biological function, affective states in minimizing suffering while promoting positive experiences, and finally, naturalness of living. The review committee was then able to narrow down their biggest animal welfare concerns to five aspects of veal production, ultimately focusing on: management of milk feeding, housing systems, reducing the risk of iron deficiency anemia, supply of dietary fiber, risk of abomasal damage, and flooring/ bedding. This paper will review the major changes to veal housing requirements depicted in the updated code and cover their perceived impact on animal welfare using scientific research.
Updated Requirements and relation to animal welfare
In contrast to the 1998 code, a new requirement calls for all veal calves to be placed into group housing by eight weeks of age. In doing so, it is believed that calves will experience greater social contact and gain pen space needed to perform normal behaviours, such as playing, running, and jumping. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that group housing can benefit weight gain in veal calves by improving both average daily gain (ADG) and feeding efficiency, As well as increasing carcass weight. This change meant removing old principles, for example the 1998 code depicts concern with group housing as a conduit of disease transmission. Some studies do suggest that group housing may allow for greater transfer of respiratory diseases, although this is lowered with smaller group sizes, other recent research also suggests that the occurrence of diarrhea is not impacted by group housing. The 1998 code also brought concern about cross-suckling in group housing, however it has since been found that cross suckling can be avoided through management of milk feeding.
Recent requirements also specify that if individual housing is utilized until the maximum of 8 weeks, that housing should generously accommodate the size of the calf. Appropriate space is needed for natural behaviours such as standing up and down, grooming, visual contact with other cattle, and resting. The allowance for lateral and sternal resting postures is specified as they are indicative of calf comfort. Similarly, another major change includes the prohibition of tethering calves, which is to be phased out by January 2021. In contrast, the 1998 codes allowed for tethering in larger, open pens. This new requirement promotes the ability of the calves to exercise, and in doing so, allows for locomotor play (galloping, bucking, etc. ), which has been related to positive animal welfare in calves. In addition, both tethering and inadequately sized crates can prevent outstretched resting positions, which can be problematic as outstretched positions support rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Assessing if the changes are successful
The animal welfare rationales for each of the new housing systems requirements mentioned above provide some visual of what the success and desired changes for housing systems in the updated code may look like. Implementation of the changes is promoted by NFACC, whereby a notable difference between the two codes is the transition from recommended practices in 1998, to required practices (new code of practice). Required practices refer to those that have developed under complete consensus, and as such, may be enforceable as a means of ensuring acceptable animal care (new code of practice).
Conclusion
In summary, the revision of veal code of practice put forth mandated changes to the housing of veal cattle. These housing changes address animal welfare needs, specifically by emphasizing measures of biological function through provision of health and normal behaviours. Although these changes promote veal welfare, gaps in knowledge such as the lack of available research on veal calves may be somewhat hindering. Instead, rationale for the requirements is often supplemented with research on dairy calves. Although there are many similarities between both, further steps to study veal cattle explicitly would likely improve the accuracy of animal welfare assessment in future codes of practice.
