The Canadian Cattle Association has initiated an update to the 2013 Beef Cattle Code. The Code Committee has been constituted and NFACC has organized a Scientific Committee that will develop a report on priority welfare issues for beef cattle. The inaugural face-to-face meeting was held in June and was attended by both the Code Committee, chaired by Matt Bowman, and Scientific Committee, chaired by Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein.
This busy, two-day meeting had a varied format including roundtable discussions, presentations, and small-group breakout sessions. Committee members discussed the main themes from a recent online survey completed by over 3,000 respondents that captured top-of-mind welfare topics for beef cattle. A summary of the survey input is available here).
Other highlights of the meeting included an overview of the beef cattle industry today along with the main strategies to ensure uptake and awareness of the current beef cattle Code of Practice. Building on a review of the principles of consensus, participants developed a shared purpose statement that will serve to guide their work together. Lastly, a list of priority welfare issues was agreed to (available here). These topics will form the basis of the Scientific Committee’s research report (the 2012 report is available here). Progress updates on the Beef Codes of Practice development will be posted on the NFACC website.
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