Before COVID-19 hit the United States and influenced nearly every aspect of agriculture, beef producers faced large challenges that impacted welfare including animal behavior and management.

Dr. Courtney Daigle specializes in animal welfare at Texas A&M University. She takes an ecological approach for topics such as weaning and transportation and searches for solutions to mitigate that stress on livestock. Another common challenge is to provide environmental enrichment.

“Particularly for cattle that are housed more in simplistic environments,” Daigle said. “They're curious, complex, and dynamic creatures, and sometimes they're put into a really static environment that may not meet all of their behavioral needs. By providing environmental enrichment, you're essentially providing them with the stimulation that's biologically appropriate.”

That biological stimulation can elicit behavior that motivates animals to perform, according to Daigle. It can not only benefit productivity and growth, but also behavior and aggression.

She emphasized the importance of examining animal welfare on an individual animal level rather than a group level.

“Whenever you're looking at a big group, sometimes you can miss some of the welfare concerns because the average is fine,” Daigle said.

Labor can also play a role, specifically labor shortages found throughout the industry. Daigle said part of the decline of individuals working in agriculture is the urbanization of the United States.

“You can't help where you're born, and you may not have even known that being a stock person was an occupation that was available to you,” Daigle said. “You might be really highly motivated to work with animals, but perhaps the only outlet that you see for that is to be a veterinarian or a zookeeper.”

Her solution is to help turn working with food animals into the honorable occupation that it deserves to be.

“You are the stewards of our food animals,” Daigle said. “You can give them the best genetics, the best housing, the best food, but if you don’t give them the best care, then some of that is all for not. Unfortunately, it is a really overlooked occupation that is underpaid and overworked. How can we as a society figure out where we really want to put our emphasis and our time?”

Employee turnover can be detrimental to the farm and to the animals that developed relationships with the stock people. They will respond differently to different individuals.

“Part of why this occupation is so valuable is because it is a skilled occupation,” Daigle said. “You may not have a very highly prestigious, formal degree to do that job, but there is a lot of effort, training, and value in how well that job is performed.”

Daigle said quality livestock care is much more complicated than providing good welfare to get a good product. There are plenty of factors that provide food for thought behind animal production.

Before COVID-19 hit the United States and influenced nearly every aspect of agriculture, beef producers faced large challenges that impacted welfare including animal behavior and management.
Dr. Courtney Daigle specializes in animal welfare at Texas A&amp;M University. She takes an ecological approach for topics such as weaning and transportation and searches for solutions to mitigate that stress on livestock. Another common challenge is to provide environmental enrichment.
&ldquo;Particularly for cattle that are housed more in simplistic environments,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;They're curious, complex, and dynamic creatures, and sometimes they're put into a really static environment that may not meet all of their behavioral needs. By providing environmental enrichment, you're essentially providing them with the stimulation that's biologically appropriate.&rdquo;
That biological stimulation can elicit behavior that motivates animals to perform, according to Daigle. It can not only benefit productivity and growth, but also behavior and aggression.
She emphasized the importance of examining animal welfare on an individual animal level rather than a group level.
&ldquo;Whenever you're looking at a big group, sometimes you can miss some of the welfare concerns because the average is fine,&rdquo; Daigle said.
Labor can also play a role, specifically labor shortages found throughout the industry. Daigle said part of the decline of individuals working in agriculture is the urbanization of the United States.
&ldquo;You can't help where you're born, and you may not have even known that being a stock person was an occupation that was available to you,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;You might be really highly motivated to work with animals, but perhaps the only outlet that you see for that is to be a veterinarian or a zookeeper.&rdquo;
Her solution is to help turn working with food animals into the honorable occupation that it deserves to be.
&ldquo;You are the stewards of our food animals,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;You can give them the best genetics, the best housing, the best food, but if you don&rsquo;t give them the best care, then some of that is all for not. Unfortunately, it is a really overlooked occupation that is underpaid and overworked. How can we as a society figure out where we really want to put our emphasis and our time?&rdquo;
Employee turnover can be detrimental to the farm and to the animals that developed relationships with the stock people. They will respond differently to different individuals.
&ldquo;Part of why this occupation is so valuable is because it is a skilled occupation,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;You may not have a very highly prestigious, formal degree to do that job, but there is a lot of effort, training, and value in how well that job is performed.&rdquo;
Daigle said quality livestock care is much more complicated than providing good welfare to get a good product. There are plenty of factors that provide food for thought behind animal production.

Join Pam Jahnke for the latest farm news. Heard daily on WOZN 96.7 FM and 1670 AM in Madison Wisconsin from 5-6am. Also heard on affiliate stations all over Wisconsin.

Join Pam Jahnke for the latest farm news. Heard daily on WOZN 96.7 FM and 1670 AM in Madison Wisconsin from 5-6am. Also heard on affiliate stations all over Wisconsin.

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