Assessing Fairground Animal Facilities

Speaker: Gary Thome Author

07/11/2019 Added

15 Plays

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Animal Care/welfare

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[00:00:03.290]Welcome everybody
[00:00:04.230]to the Animal Care Wednesday webinar, I'm Heidi Carroll
[00:00:07.810]and I work with South Dakota State University Extension
[00:00:11.050]and Livestock Stewardship.
[00:00:12.640]The Animal Care Wednesday webinars are a partnership
[00:00:15.670]between South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri
[00:00:18.100]and Nebraska extension folks bringing kinda hot animal care
[00:00:22.110]topics just some overviews that usually provide us
[00:00:26.670]in the animal industry field in the 4-H field
[00:00:28.900]a little bit of insights into what we can do to help
[00:00:31.437]our constituents that we work with on a daily basis.
[00:00:36.500]Just if you have any issues please use that chatbox feature.
[00:00:41.310]We will go ahead and address questions at the end
[00:00:44.100]of the presentation but feel free to enter
[00:00:46.390]your questions at any time of the presentation
[00:00:49.980]in that chat box.
[00:00:52.080]Today's recording will be, or excuse me the webinar
[00:00:56.815]will be recorded today and the recording will be posted
[00:00:58.720]to our Animal Care Wednesday website,
[00:01:01.030]and that link is in your chat box as well.
[00:01:05.030]So if you need to view it or share it with those
[00:01:07.470]who are not able to attend today that is a resource
[00:01:10.660]you will have at a later date as well.
[00:01:16.620]So let's get into our topic for today's webinar,
[00:01:20.660]today we have Gary Thome,
[00:01:23.070]Gary is an animal welfare specialist
[00:01:25.700]and he works with Validus which is a division
[00:01:27.900]of Where Your Food Comes From, and Gary has some expertise
[00:01:31.580]on the assessing of livestock production operations
[00:01:36.540]in various species and so a great resource when we start
[00:01:40.710]talking about how can we take some of those skills
[00:01:43.420]and apply them to a unique situation which is very visual
[00:01:49.150]to our public, and so that's where this topic
[00:01:51.610]of assessing fairground animal facilities came from.
[00:01:55.730]Because these are unique facilities,
[00:01:58.110]they're definitely not a production based facility
[00:02:00.900]but they can pose some interesting
[00:02:02.540]animal handling challenges.
[00:02:04.690]So that's why we thought Gary might be a great resource
[00:02:08.730]to provide a little bit of insight into what we can learn
[00:02:12.700]from the industry side and apply to these unique facilities.
[00:02:17.060]Gary has experience with both
[00:02:18.820]the common swine industry audit as well as the dairy's,
[00:02:22.840]and even some of the auction market assessments.
[00:02:25.760]So with that I'm gonna turn over the webinar to Gary
[00:02:30.210]and like I said if you have questions,
[00:02:32.320]as he's presenting take time to just type them into
[00:02:35.210]the chatbox and we'll address them as we go.
[00:02:38.580]Thank you Gary, and take it away.
[00:02:41.590]Good morning everyone,
[00:02:43.880]very glad to be able to spend a little bit of time
[00:02:46.940]with all you folks, little bit of background
[00:02:50.310]for myself I graduated from the University of Minnesota
[00:02:54.168]in intercultural education and taught high school Ag
[00:02:57.160]for seven years and then moved back to my home area
[00:03:01.100]where I did farm business management instruction
[00:03:03.960]through the community college system for over 30 years.
[00:03:07.620]Upon retiring from that I've established
[00:03:10.730]my own consulting business and also have been doing
[00:03:16.370]auditing with Validus since 2012.
[00:03:21.360]Through this whole process my wife and I did farm
[00:03:25.260]and was always our goal that if any of our children
[00:03:28.040]did want to be involved in farming that we would be able
[00:03:30.090]to give 'em the opportunity, and at the present time
[00:03:33.204]we farm with two sons raising corn and pork.
[00:03:38.180]Trough this auditing education it has become
[00:03:43.910]very obvious that the industries as a whole
[00:03:48.060]have made some tremendous strides on the farm
[00:03:51.520]with regard to animal handling and animal care.
[00:03:56.390]I think the information that I hope to be able to present
[00:04:02.490]will make sense to everyone and please do if you do have
[00:04:07.480]some questions or concerns, in any of these regards
[00:04:11.290]to please ask, if we look at the areas that we'll try
[00:04:17.420]and cover and assess today the first one is
[00:04:21.680]are there problems with your fair facilities
[00:04:24.090]in regard to housing the livestock?
[00:04:27.161]And are you able to properly move this livestock safely
[00:04:31.780]around at the fair?
[00:04:34.140]To show rings and wash areas and all those kind of things.
[00:04:39.570]And then are the facilities that you have,
[00:04:41.680]are they outdated for today's livestock?
[00:04:44.740]If you stop and think about you know, 25, 30 years ago
[00:04:49.790]the size of the animals that we were producing
[00:04:54.020]and showing has changed pretty drastically
[00:04:57.380]in almost every species, in regard to SOPs
[00:05:03.720]and site requirements.
[00:05:05.600]I'm basing a lot of the stuff that you're gonna see here
[00:05:08.560]on items that are as mentioned they're
[00:05:11.190]in the Common Swine Industry audit.
[00:05:13.800]Or the Beef and Dairy Animal Welfare Reviews
[00:05:17.540]and so forth, one of the things that every livestock site
[00:05:22.900]should have is a national premise ID number
[00:05:26.320]and this has probably gained even more traction
[00:05:29.040]in the last six, eight months in regard to the concern
[00:05:33.500]about foreign animal diseases especially with China
[00:05:37.640]having African swine fever.
[00:05:41.440]The signage that each building should have
[00:05:45.801]is not only for people to find their way around
[00:05:49.580]and what they're looking for, but we should also have
[00:05:52.680]on there, some of the information in regard to the fact that
[00:05:56.240]we'll have zero tolerance policies stated
[00:06:00.160]and it should be clearly understood
[00:06:03.970]and then also a mechanism that if there should happen
[00:06:08.940]to be any acts of abuse how can this be reported?
[00:06:12.300]The emergency action plan information,
[00:06:14.930]you know the phone numbers that fire and maybe police
[00:06:20.380]and so forth or if there's an accident
[00:06:23.980]and you need a number for an ambulance
[00:06:26.400]and those kinds of things should be available.
[00:06:29.890]Biosecurity requirements, I think those are things that
[00:06:33.000]depending on the species will vary
[00:06:35.520]and the number of items there may or may not be
[00:06:40.036](electronic dissonance) you know,
[00:06:46.410]at the time of a specific show.
[00:06:51.270]Be it just a swine show for example,
[00:06:55.100]or you may have some biosecurity requirements
[00:06:58.290]that you're going to post.
[00:07:00.030]Caretaker training I think is also real important
[00:07:03.610]that the public be aware of the fact that most all
[00:07:07.140]of the packers now are requiring that anything come to them
[00:07:12.250]have PQA and BQA certification for the producer
[00:07:19.450]that's supplying them, and I know in our county here
[00:07:24.660]that's one of the requirements for all the 4-Hers
[00:07:27.580]for example who are going to be sending their animals
[00:07:31.370]to Hormel at the end of the show.
[00:07:35.320]Feeding and watering protocols I think sometimes
[00:07:38.500]the general public doesn't understand
[00:07:40.020]or have any idea in regard to that.
[00:07:42.130]But you know you wanna be sure and have that understood
[00:07:46.020]and not only be visible but make 'em aware.
[00:07:50.380]Veterinary location and contact information I think
[00:07:53.240]is kinda self explanatory, many fairs now have
[00:07:56.890]a fair office for the veterinarian in case there are
[00:08:04.895]problems, we'd take a look at buildings
[00:08:06.220]and equipment I think you know we all wanna stop
[00:08:09.790]and make sure that things are in a good state of repair
[00:08:12.600]and that we can prevent any injuries before we have
[00:08:15.480]any accidents of any kind, but we have to take a look
[00:08:18.112]at the penning and in all as we mentioned you know.
[00:08:20.980]Size of animals has changed and so consequently,
[00:08:25.900]you take swine for example.
[00:08:27.600]Is the penning high enough so that we're not gonna have
[00:08:30.630]animals jumping over and getting mixed in with others
[00:08:33.700]and fighting and so forth.
[00:08:36.050]That's a concern, the type of flooring.
[00:08:40.460]That, there again has changed in some cases
[00:08:44.440]you know in some of the older facilities
[00:08:46.740]everything was ground floor and it took quite a bit
[00:08:51.050]of bedding and so forth, and some of the newer facilities
[00:08:53.970]now are all concrete and so forth.
[00:08:55.970]So we need to take the bedding
[00:09:00.735]and whatever we're gonna use
[00:09:02.440]for a foundation in those fairly seriously.
[00:09:05.940]Chutes, those are you know as far as getting livestock in
[00:09:10.970]and out we wanna make sure that they are long enough
[00:09:15.070]so that we don't have something that's way too steep
[00:09:17.820]that we're fighting the animals, both coming in
[00:09:20.880]and going out.
[00:09:22.790]Alleys and walkways there again as the dairy cattle
[00:09:27.700]and beef and so forth some of these things
[00:09:29.730]have gotten larger the stalls are bigger
[00:09:34.150]and consequently in some cases we've cut down
[00:09:36.810]on the walkways and it makes it hard for people to get
[00:09:41.130]animals in and out or visitors to take a look
[00:09:44.610]and observe what is there and so forth.
[00:09:48.570]Wash racks and fitting areas, here again you know
[00:09:51.940]we wanna be able to have the livestock properly fitted
[00:09:57.430]and we need a place to do that, and most of those take
[00:10:01.020]extra space and you know, with a lot of our fairs
[00:10:05.610]basically being the vast majority in the hot summer.
[00:10:10.060]We wanna make sure that we've got potentially
[00:10:13.350]some shade that can be used so that they're not
[00:10:16.810]out in the sun, and here again with washing
[00:10:19.935]how are we handling that water?
[00:10:22.140]Where's it going, and then take proper use of that as well.
[00:10:27.890]Feeders I think those are typically provided
[00:10:31.050]by the show person and we want something that's appropriate
[00:10:34.500]for the species and the animals.
[00:10:37.320]Water that's probably one of the most important things
[00:10:39.960]especially in the summertime, that they have access
[00:10:42.820]to water at all times and make sure that it's clean.
[00:10:47.240]Handling equipment, the sort boards, the show sticks,
[00:10:51.670]and so forth we want those things to be appropriate
[00:10:55.810]and used properly.
[00:10:57.850]The show ring and placement pens here again
[00:11:01.740]you know most of these animals are fairly soft footed
[00:11:06.629]as a rule and consequently we want the show ring to be able
[00:11:10.830]to show 'em in the best possible way
[00:11:13.000]and so we want something that they're gonna move
[00:11:15.770]easily around in and be able to place 'em you know
[00:11:23.476]in pens versus say okay the first place animal
[00:11:26.550]you go to that corner and the second place you go
[00:11:28.730]to that corner and sometimes it's kinda hard
[00:11:31.370]to make a nice show out of facilities that don't
[00:11:36.070]allow us to do things in an orderly fashion.
[00:11:40.670]As far as the building environment is concerned
[00:11:43.300]I think the biggest thing there probably is the fact
[00:11:46.250]that we wanna have proper air quality not only
[00:11:49.360]for the animals but for the people as well
[00:11:52.040]and I've seen several situations where this is somewhat
[00:11:55.390]of a problem in the fact that they've replaced
[00:11:57.550]some of these older buildings that were built say
[00:12:03.050]back in the 20s where it was just an open pool type
[00:12:06.770]facility and provided shade and lots of air movement
[00:12:11.400]and so forth and in some cases these fairgrounds
[00:12:14.650]have gone to a building that's maybe much larger
[00:12:18.870]and so forth but they're looking at the ability to maybe
[00:12:22.560]use this for more things or use it for storage
[00:12:27.520]for things during the off season
[00:12:29.830]and consequently it isn't necessarily
[00:12:32.240]laid out or built or ventilated for animals and people.
[00:12:37.600]Adequate air flow to maintain proper thermal behavior,
[00:12:44.100]my thought here is that in some cases we've got
[00:12:47.670]these steer calves that have been in a refrigerator
[00:12:51.380]all summer growing hair and then we bring 'em out
[00:12:53.740]and we tie 'em up to a 80 degree, 90 degree heat
[00:12:58.760]and all of the sudden they're panting
[00:13:01.440]and foaming at the mouth and so forth
[00:13:03.097]and so consequently those are things we wanna avoid.
[00:13:07.180]Proper flooring here again as far as for the comfort
[00:13:10.630]of the animal as well as the people going through
[00:13:14.220]we wanna make sure that we're able to take care
[00:13:18.830]of 'em in that fashion.
[00:13:19.990]Gating each species, here again you know if the hogs
[00:13:23.330]or the sheep or the goats or those sorts of things
[00:13:25.250]wanna make sure that it's properly sized
[00:13:27.730]and the pens are properly sized so that the animals
[00:13:30.940]have you know, adequate space
[00:13:32.540]and they can move around not too many in a pen and so forth.
[00:13:39.170]Here again as far as we were talking about walkways
[00:13:41.680]or alleys you know, we wanna make sure that there's plenty
[00:13:44.060]of room for you know the caretakers to do their work
[00:13:46.790]and have their equipment also to provide room
[00:13:50.130]for the spectators to be able to see the animals
[00:13:54.060]and visit with people if they so desire.
[00:13:57.740]Proper access to feed, this I think varies a little bit
[00:14:02.870]with livestock in regard to maybe you're gonna have
[00:14:05.780]hay in front of dairy cattle all the time.
[00:14:08.830]You may be feeding the sheep and pigs maybe twice a day
[00:14:13.530]and that sort of thing and then getting the pans
[00:14:15.790]and so forth out of there so the pens stay clean.
[00:14:19.130]Access to clean water this is probably the most
[00:14:22.400]important if we look at any species
[00:14:25.231]and having the ability for them to take care
[00:14:28.620]of their requirements as far as making sure
[00:14:33.000]that they don't get dehydrated and so forth.
[00:14:36.080]A dry place to lay down, it doesn't make any difference
[00:14:39.610]if we're talking you know, cattle being stalled
[00:14:44.090]or we've got sheep in a pen and hogs we wanna make sure
[00:14:48.510]that it's clean and dry and here again that's gonna help
[00:14:51.890]tremendously with the odor
[00:14:53.540]and some of those kinds of things.
[00:14:55.126]There isn't much worse than a hot muggy summer day
[00:14:59.520]and you have a lotta wet pens
[00:15:01.700]and the odor that that can create.
[00:15:04.590]Proper pest control, probably flies is one of the
[00:15:07.800]biggest ones, we do have in some cases we do have to worry
[00:15:11.340]about rodents at the facilities that aren't used
[00:15:13.930]all the time and we need to be sure
[00:15:15.330]and have that under control well before
[00:15:17.030]the fair's gonna take place.
[00:15:19.520]As far as loading and unloading, you know chutes
[00:15:21.900]and trailers we wanna make sure that they're
[00:15:24.351]properly designed for the animals that are coming in
[00:15:28.800]and they're wide enough and so forth.
[00:15:31.780]They've got the proper type of flooring, not too steep
[00:15:35.449]for animals to be coming down on and so forth.
[00:15:40.180]Cleat spacing here again that's important for,
[00:15:43.410]especially if you know we're taking them up a chute
[00:15:46.100]and so forth as well as possibly coming down
[00:15:49.990]so that they can, especially if they're fairly steep.
[00:15:54.310]No possible areas for injury here I'm mainly thinking
[00:15:59.030]of gating that someone could get you know caught behind
[00:16:03.870]and a big steer turns around and pinches them,
[00:16:06.780]and you know does a good job of crushing and so forth.
[00:16:12.010]So we wanna make sure that we've got things
[00:16:14.020]properly set up so that those kinds of things can't happen.
[00:16:19.450]Proper aligning of chutes and trailers.
[00:16:21.870]In some of these fairgrounds the design was meant
[00:16:26.240]for a pickup or a pickup with a small trailer
[00:16:30.170]and now we're trying to load out with semis
[00:16:33.290]and so forth and you know there's just not room enough
[00:16:36.200]to get properly aligned like they should,
[00:16:38.730]and we make makeshift things so that
[00:16:42.890]we can get things loaded in and out
[00:16:46.150]and sometimes those can be a little bit dangerous.
[00:16:49.580]Make sure the trailer's in good state of repair
[00:16:52.280]you know in some cases it's a matter of maybe this trailer
[00:16:55.310]only gets used once or twice a year for this 4-H project
[00:16:59.860]and we wanna make sure the flooring in 'em is good
[00:17:01.930]and all those sorts of things as they're being looked at
[00:17:06.140]by the general public and so on.
[00:17:09.150]Properly equipped for weather,
[00:17:10.780]here I think one of the things would be, being able to water
[00:17:16.260]or sprinkle the livestock in the trailer.
[00:17:20.880]Particularly in extremely hot weather,
[00:17:23.020]and a lot of the newer trailers are equipped with
[00:17:27.080]a water supply and a sprinkling system.
[00:17:30.320]Properly equipped for the species and phase of production.
[00:17:32.940]I think this here again is a matter of what size
[00:17:37.380]of trailer are you using, and are you double decking
[00:17:41.370]and so forth in that regard.
[00:17:44.490]One of the biggest things probably is don't overcrowd,
[00:17:48.030]and I think this is one of the things that
[00:17:50.210]the general public if they're standing there watching
[00:17:52.250]and this trailer being loaded is how tight these
[00:17:55.240]animals might be.
[00:17:57.130]Show ring and the people doing the showing,
[00:18:01.050]probably one of the most important things in that regard
[00:18:03.550]is proper hygiene and this goes all the way back
[00:18:05.970]from the pen and the stall the animals are coming from,
[00:18:09.400]the walkways that they're using you know,
[00:18:11.390]if you have a beef show and the animals are coming in
[00:18:16.380]through a walkway that's got divots in it
[00:18:20.710]or holes in it or you got pockets where there's water
[00:18:23.330]standing and those sorts of things we wanna try
[00:18:25.810]and avoid those if we can, and the show ring
[00:18:29.920]and show persons here again I think that the general hygiene
[00:18:33.360]there is normally really pretty good
[00:18:35.880]and the show rings if they've got sawdust down,
[00:18:39.180]you know you wanna make sure that
[00:18:41.380]we're able to keep the dust down and we gotta be careful
[00:18:46.490]of not too much water or that sawdust can almost
[00:18:50.350]turn into manure like material so we gotta be careful
[00:18:54.810]in that regard.
[00:18:56.120]Staging and show ring entrance area's probably
[00:18:58.970]one of the things that in many fairs they're lacking
[00:19:02.705]the ability to properly stage and get these animals
[00:19:06.240]into the ring, many times there's not enough room
[00:19:09.730]for spectators and consequently they crowd the area
[00:19:13.680]where you're trying to bring animals in,
[00:19:15.849]or take 'em out and so those things are important
[00:19:20.180]to have you know gating and fencing
[00:19:23.210]and those sorts of things in place.
[00:19:24.900]So that we can properly do those.
[00:19:27.740]Properly size show ring for the number in class
[00:19:30.180]or the species that you're showing.
[00:19:32.340]This can be a problem in regard to a large beef show
[00:19:37.920]for example, not having enough space to properly
[00:19:40.705]show 'em so that the judge can take a good look
[00:19:43.750]at 'em and be able to place 'em properly.
[00:19:47.500]Penning and placing here again like I mentioned before
[00:19:51.668]is it the ability for one through 10 to be penned
[00:19:57.350]and many judges they'll discuss the placings
[00:20:02.140]with the crowd and it's tough to do that if you don't
[00:20:05.380]have some way to properly handle them,
[00:20:07.130]and it's hard for the show people they have to just
[00:20:10.370]try and hold 'em in one spot until they're called out.
[00:20:14.640]Showing equipment for each species and the person showing
[00:20:17.990]and the show ring staff is important.
[00:20:20.730]Be it sort boards, or you know those sorts of things
[00:20:24.930]to be able to help the people and make sure that the show
[00:20:28.040]runs smooth and you know and to help the judge as well
[00:20:31.220]and take care of that.
[00:20:33.700]Proper showmanship I think we wanna be careful
[00:20:36.040]and make sure that this isn't just
[00:20:37.370]for the showmanship contest that we're having showmanship
[00:20:40.900]both in and out of the ring.
[00:20:43.330]The equipment, I think audio wise here again
[00:20:47.129]in some cases if they can't hear it's tough to get
[00:20:51.900]a class started if you've got one or two people missing
[00:20:55.420]and they didn't realize it because there's not
[00:20:58.650]enough volume in the barn to let them know
[00:21:01.580]that they're due the ring,
[00:21:03.420]or that they're due in the staging area and so forth,
[00:21:07.060]and the crowd really appreciates the ability to hear
[00:21:10.540]what the judge has to say.
[00:21:12.880]Proper show ring support staff
[00:21:14.450]and assist the show persons and judge I think that's
[00:21:17.840]fairly self explanatory that it'll move much smoother
[00:21:21.600]if you have those people that can assist,
[00:21:24.730]with that type of thing,
[00:21:26.780]and this is probably one of the areas that we
[00:21:30.150]way overlook is adequate crowd control for entering
[00:21:34.230]the arena and viewing the show and so forth,
[00:21:37.660]and it's extremely important that we have the ability
[00:21:39.870]to handle the people, but also maintain the flow
[00:21:44.950]of the animals in such a way that everything goes smooth
[00:21:50.070]and everybody's safe.
[00:21:52.580]Heidi that's what I had.
[00:21:58.550]I think that was a great starting point
[00:22:01.110]and overview of kinda where we should look
[00:22:05.200]at our local level be it for exhibition shows
[00:22:08.230]or our county fairs so thank you Gary.
[00:22:12.040]As we start looking at questions, you can type
[00:22:15.260]your questions into the chatbox, as you're doing that
[00:22:18.470]I am going to initiate a short poll that you can just
[00:22:22.070]answer your questions as you're listening
[00:22:24.170]to Gary respond to the questions.
[00:22:27.480]So you'll see that pop up on your screen there,
[00:22:29.610]so go ahead and click your responses.
[00:22:31.621]To get us started with questions,
[00:22:34.741]what would you say is the importance
[00:22:37.270]of assessing fairgrounds or exhibition grounds for animals?
[00:22:42.820]I think probably the most important aspect
[00:22:47.060]is the facilities that we're going to be holding
[00:22:50.220]these animals in while they're at the fair.
[00:22:53.640]Are they properly spaced so that we aren't overcrowding 'em,
[00:22:59.870]are they properly ventilated so that the animals
[00:23:03.570]aren't getting overheated or that sort of thing,
[00:23:07.530]and then after that I think it's a matter
[00:23:09.420]of looking at okay how far from where they're being housed
[00:23:13.440]to where you're gonna show and being able to take 'em
[00:23:17.760]in such a way that we aren't effecting the crowd
[00:23:21.700]that's around them and still having adequate space
[00:23:25.640]so that people can actually view and see the show.
[00:23:32.450]Great, which area do you think
[00:23:35.590]might be the easiest or quickest to improve
[00:23:39.620]if a fair is looking at trying to improve something,
[00:23:43.350]and obviously since these are a lot of publicly,
[00:23:47.510]locally owned operations then what might be
[00:23:50.230]the cheapest item that they could look at
[00:23:52.510]improving animal welfare?
[00:23:57.510]I think it varies somewhat between species,
[00:24:01.381]but I think most of the places now that have had
[00:24:07.350]shows over the years in most cases,
[00:24:11.490]people that and the 4-Hers, and the FFA people
[00:24:15.470]and Open Class most of those have taken the time
[00:24:20.600]and effort to have adequate equipment themselves
[00:24:24.050]if they know what the problem might be given
[00:24:27.870]the facilities that they're in.
[00:24:30.760]Be it having large enough fans, or enough fans.
[00:24:35.370]Being able to open up doors and be it just ventilation doors
[00:24:41.870]and so forth, I know in a number of fair grounds.
[00:24:45.470]They're actually gone through their facilities
[00:24:48.060]and remodeled 'em by just putting in ventilation doors
[00:24:52.950]that can be opened and that has a tremendous impact
[00:24:57.240]on air quality and the ability to move air.
[00:25:01.300]The most important thing to remember in any ventilation
[00:25:04.390]is you know where the air comes in.
[00:25:07.210]We can move air out a lot of different ways.
[00:25:09.810]Be it through ceiling fans or wall fans
[00:25:15.110]and that sort of thing but the fresh air coming in
[00:25:18.450]is the most important thing and where it comes from
[00:25:21.080]and how we can get it to the animals.
[00:25:28.840]Great, one other question that comes up
[00:25:34.380]would be, if an areas is identified for improvement.
[00:25:40.920]What might you suggest for a way to bring that up
[00:25:44.930]at a fair board meeting in advance of a summer fair,
[00:25:49.110]how would you go about bringing this to the attention
[00:25:52.760]of the local group?
[00:25:55.700]Well I think you know, the most important thing
[00:25:59.250]probably is if it's something that's causing
[00:26:03.720]a potential harmful effect on either the show people
[00:26:10.150]or the crowd and talking about safety is number one.
[00:26:16.790]If you're gonna be able to do something that's gonna
[00:26:19.380]eliminate a problem along those lines,
[00:26:21.950]and after that I think it goes down to then,
[00:26:27.390]what impact are we going to be able to have
[00:26:30.810]if we discuss something in regard to not only the safety
[00:26:35.610]of the people that are involved but then also
[00:26:38.290]the ability to safely handle the livestock themselves,
[00:26:42.890]or house them properly?
[00:26:45.050]And what is it going to take in order to make the changes,
[00:26:47.920]and sometimes a lot of these changes aren't
[00:26:50.010]very costly it's in some cases I've seen for example
[00:26:54.340]where they've had problems with crowd control
[00:26:59.020]just putting up a walkway with a picket fence
[00:27:03.230]on each side so that the public can't,
[00:27:07.690]it's high enough that they can't get over it,
[00:27:09.950]and yet it's something that controls the crowd
[00:27:14.780]and allows the people and the livestock to go in
[00:27:19.550]and out of the show ring without having a lot of problems.
[00:27:26.349]That's a great suggestion.
[00:27:28.260]You did make a comment about the types of signage
[00:27:31.100]and you referenced a zero tolerance policy
[00:27:33.750]and stating how to go about reporting acts
[00:27:37.130]of animal abuse could you elaborate maybe
[00:27:39.140]on some examples there that would be appropriate
[00:27:42.430]to the local level for us?
[00:27:46.400]Well any audit that is done on farm,
[00:27:50.830]one of the things that every species has adopted
[00:27:55.080]is the fact that there shall be no willful acts
[00:27:58.100]of abuse and in I think almost every case.
[00:28:04.190]If an individual is accused of an act of abuse,
[00:28:12.030]most every species has their policy written
[00:28:15.260]in such a way that it is the result,
[00:28:19.120]or the result of that is termination from their job,
[00:28:24.560]and I think it's important in the case of a fair
[00:28:31.770]where we're actually out and the public is watching
[00:28:35.740]every move we make that we make them aware
[00:28:40.210]that as livestock producers we don't accept
[00:28:43.970]the fact that there's any willful acts of abuse,
[00:28:47.130]and it's simple to say that.
[00:28:52.320]But I think it's also important to portray that
[00:28:56.400]in light of the general public being able to really look
[00:29:01.590]over our shoulder and see every move we're making
[00:29:05.160]in a county fair situation,
[00:29:07.290]and so I think the ability to have even a phone number
[00:29:14.410]or a web address or a place where people can text it
[00:29:20.130]and that sort of thing is all it's gonna take
[00:29:22.500]to let the public know that we're serious
[00:29:25.110]about how we're taking care of our animals,
[00:29:27.850]and the fact that we as individuals don't accept
[00:29:32.320]any kind of act of abuse, and it, you know it isn't
[00:29:38.590]that this is something new.
[00:29:39.760]I think it's something we've always believed in,
[00:29:42.560]but it's something that we've made a much larger,
[00:29:45.161]greater effort to emphasize say in the past decade.
[00:29:56.050]Well thank you so much for your expertise
[00:29:59.027]and your input on this topic Gary, I really appreciate it,
[00:30:02.630]it definitely gave some good things to think about
[00:30:05.400]and to take back to our local levels
[00:30:07.590]across all of our states.
[00:30:09.700]So thank you very much for your time,
[00:30:13.660]hopefully everybody whose on,
[00:30:15.670]and our next Animal Care Wednesday webinar
[00:30:18.240]will be August seventh and same time at 11 o'clock
[00:30:21.860]central time and so we look forward to seeing
[00:30:24.600]everybody again in August,
[00:30:26.900]and the recording for today's webinar will be posted
[00:30:30.460]at the animalscience.unl.edu animal care resource webpage.
[00:30:35.890]Thank you very much, and have a great day.

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Assessing Fairground Animal Facilities

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