Animal welfare officers training delivery 2020
| Project start date: | 29 May 2020 |
| Project end date: | 11 December 2020 |
| Publication date: | 11 May 2021 |
| Project status: | Terminated |
| Livestock species: | Grain-fed Cattle |
| Relevant regions: | National |
Summary
Animal Welfare Officers (AWOs) are people employed in the feedlot who have overall responsibility for monitoring and supervising animal welfare practices throughout the operation.
This project is part of an ongoing program of workshops to deliver the knowledge and skills necessary for AWO's to manage, assess and audit animal welfare within a feedlot operation. The training consists of a day of workshop activities, plus a half-day practical exercise in a feedlot environment, followed by a post course assignment, based on an animal welfare audit of their own operation.
On successful completion of this assignment and other course work, participants are awarded the Animal Welfare Officer Skill Set, which consists of two units of competency, through the Registered Training Organisation, TAFE South West Queensland. The Animal Welfare Officer Training was delivered by Dr Paul Cusack and Jeff House.
Objectives
The main objective of this project was to deliver animal welfare officer training to industry participants through workshops at the following locations:
- Condamine, QLD
- Oakey, QLD (2 sessions)
- Emerald, QLD
- Hyden, WA
- Geelong, VIC
- Burra, SA
- Narrandera, NSW
- Tamworth, NSW.
Key findings
The workshops were successfully delivered at Condamine and Oakey (2), Queensland in March 2020. Covid-19 then impacted delivery of the balance of the courses scheduled across all Australian states and the project was terminated.
Benefits to industry
- Feedlot managers and employees with improved knowledge and skills to manage, assess and audit animal welfare within the feedlot.
- Improvement in animal welfare that results from feedlot participation, while difficult to measure, is ultimately reflected in community acceptance of the sector and maintenance of social licence.
MLA action
Given the importance of these workshops in improving the animal welfare knowledge and skills of feedlot employees, and the need to deliver them in a face-to-face format, it is recommended their delivery be re-instated once they can be delivered safely.
Related MLA projects:
B.FLT.7024; B.FLT.4008; B.FLT.7004; B.FLT.0494
More information
| Contact email: | reports@mla.com.au |
| Primary researcher: | Australian Livestock Production |
