Animals are voiceless beings that are often taken advantage of by people who are indifferent towards them. Since profit maximization is of utmost importance for businesses, they may overproduce their livestock and keep them in unfavorable conditions.
This is not a sustainable business model as animals are the most essential product of livestock farming, and neglecting them or treating them harshly can have disastrous possibilities for the company. Therefore, prioritizing animal welfare in meat production companies is extremely vital for businesses to succeed.
How to Manage Animal Health
It is paramount to prioritize animal welfare in ranches that produce meat as it is the ranch’s responsibility to ethically deal with the animals they benefit from. By definition, animal welfare is the impact an animal’s surroundings have on them.
It considers the animal’s psychological and physical health. If ranchers tend to provide unhealthy environments for the animals, the negative impact they will have on the animal’s mental health will bring repercussions on their physical well-being as well as ranch productivity.
Feed Monitoring
First, one must prioritize the animal’s physical health by investing in the best quality feed. Make sure they are fed well, with the most nutritious food, so their nutrient intake is well taken care of. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are essential requirements for the livestock to stay in the best of health. Therefore, keeping a monitored and controlled diet for the animals can lead to better meat production.
Dehydration and Starvation
Furthermore, the livestock’s water intake is also equally important. Without sufficient hydration, which for some animals can be a massive amount, the animal cannot properly digest their food. Therefore, if they don’t drink enough water, they stop eating the food provided to them. Keeping this in mind, ranchers must give the animals the amount of water they require to save them from dehydration and starvation.
Monitor Animals Behavior
Apart from the animals’ physical health, their wellbeing and psychological health should be cared for as well. Animals are often regarded as living things that lack feelings and emotions.
This is just a myth that must be discredited instantly as it is scientifically proven that animals can feel emotions such as happiness, guilt, grief, and fear. Some livestock animals can also understand the behavioral cues of their fellow animals as well as their handlers at the ranch.
They can recognize expressions that suggest whether certain actions they perform are permissible or not. Taking efforts to understand the animals’ cognitive behavior is important in order to treat them the way they deserve to be treated.
Animal Health Monitoring with Technology
Furthermore, with the incorporation of technology into the livestock industry, some solutions can monitor animal welfare as well as their physical health. For example, a company called Cainthus uses computer vision and Artificial Intelligence technology to monitor each individual animal’s physical health and welfare daily.
This means it tracks feed intake, water consumption, when they’re in heat, and other behavior patterns. Analyzing information like this can help the farm labor understand their animals, what they need, and when they need it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, prioritizing animal welfare as a value of a livestock company is highly beneficial as healthy animals make the best, most productive meat. One should use innovative solutions to keep their animals at the best of health, both physical and psychological. Not only is this ethical, but it allows the company to achieve its desired results in terms of productivity.
