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Farm animal care leaders recognized with awards of distinction

Alberta's livestock industry honored three leaders in promoting responsible farm animal care in the province, at the recent Livestock Care Conference, April 6-7, in Red Deer.

"The Awards of Distinction are an opportunity to recognize people in our industry who have made exceptional contributions to farm animal care in Alberta," says Lorna Baird, Executive Director of Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC), host of the conference. "The award recipients for 2011 are all tremendous ambassadors for progress in farm animal care. They are leading by example and truly making a difference in our industry."

The Award of Distinction for Industry Leadership was presented to Morris Airey, the recently retired former director of animal protection for the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Among his many contributions to farm animal care, Airey has helped to foster teamwork and information sharing between Alberta SPCA and AFAC.

This has included coordinating joint work between the organizations on initiatives such as the Alberta Livestock Protection System (ALPS), the AFAC Alert Line and recent updates to the Alberta Animal Protection Act and Regulations.

The award was presented to Airey on behalf of AFAC by Dr. Duane Landals. "Morris is well deserving," says Landals. "He has been a champion of cooperation between our organizations, while at the same time recognizing that each has a unique and different role to play."

Airey says he is encouraged by the progress made in farm animal care. "Today I feel a much more open receptiveness from the industry people to bring welfare to the forefront and to talk openly about issues that arise and their need for continued improvement. There's no doubt the industry is on track and has shown leadership. It's great to see."

The Award of Distinction for Innovation was awarded to Dr. Steve Mason, a strong advocate of farm animal care progress throughout a long career with a major focus on technology transfer. A few highlights of Mason's work in producing extension materials include over 70 Alberta Dairy management technical articles, numerous additional technical articles on beef and sheep production, and 40 quarterly issues of Western Dairy Digest magazine – now Dairyman's Digest – which he has produced and edited since its inception.

Emily McDonald of Alberta Milk presented the award to Mason. "Dr. Mason has demonstrated a unique gift in his ability to facilitate and document knowledge transfer at a very productive and high quality level. One of the many areas where his work has led to strong progress is the area of promoting improved livestock production practices that support animal care."

Mason acknowledged the strong support of industry to both his work and farm animal care innovation in general. "Future progress in improving farm animal care will depend upon such strong, continuing support from livestock producers," says Mason.

The Award of Distinction for Communication was presented to Dr. Clover Bench of the University of Alberta. Bench is an instructor for courses in animal welfare, food animal behavior and companion animal behavior at the university, where she serves as teacher, advisor and mentor to dozens of students.

As part of her courses, students have been involved with projects designing innovative solutions and products to support farm animal care. She has also built a strong partnership between student activities and provincial Youth 4-H Clubs in the province, encouraging knowledge transfer and interaction with almost 7,000 Youth 4-Hers.

The award was presented to Bench by Dr. Craig Wilkinson, director of animal care at the University of Alberta. "Clover is making an outstanding contribution to communication about behavior and care of farm animals. She is highly deserving of this award."

Bench emphasized that creating opportunities for people from all walks of life to consider agriculture as a career is important to develop the agriculture leaders of tomorrow. "A big part of that is to help bridge students, including both urban and rural students, into agriculture and animal science," says Bench.

More information on the Awards of Distinction, including more detail on the contributions of each of the award winners, is available on the Livestock Care Conference website, www.afac.ab.ca/lcc.

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