If you’ve ever had the pleasure of being a dog parent you know how important early life experiences are for your puppy and how much they can impact their behavior later in life. For example, we’ve all been told that positive social interactions for young puppies helps them build the social skills they’ll need as adults, giving them confidence to interact with other dogs while on walks, at the dog park, and if you ever want to bring a second puppy home.

But what about early life experiences for farm animals like laying hens?

Research has shown that early exposure to environments with certain features – think perches, bedding material for scratching, foraging, and dustbathing, and extra space – help to better prepare hens for life in adulthood in a non-cage environment (don’t forget, all types of cages are prohibited under our Standards for all certification levels!).

At G.A.P., not only do we have Standards for laying hens, but we also have Standards for pullets. We are one of the only animal welfare certifications that have a full set of Standards for pullets.

What’s a pullet, you ask?

Pullets are young female chickens that have not yet laid an egg (approximately 1-18 weeks of age). Pullets have outgrown their baby chick phase and their adult feathers have started coming in. Being immature, pullets are smaller and weigh less than adult laying hens and their combs and wattles are not as big or red in color yet. Usually pullets are housed at one farm and then transferred to another specialized farm when they are ready to start laying eggs.

So why do we have Standards for pullets then? Keep reading for three ways G.A.P. Standards can prepare pullets for adulthood:

1: Build Stronger Bones and Muscles

Providing more opportunities for pullets to move around and exercise improves bone and muscle quality characteristics later in life. Research has shown that rearing pullets in non-cage systems increase wing and breast muscle development and improves bone density when compared to pullets reared in conventional cages that offer limited access for exercise and activity.

Like our Laying Hen Standards, our Pullet Standards also prohibit the use of cages to house birds. Housing pullets in non-cage systems provides them the opportunity for increased exercise and activity, like walking, running, wing flapping, jumping, foraging, and dustbathing – activities that may help to build and develop bones and muscles that will benefit them during rearing, but also later in life.

2: Learn How to Navigate 3D Spaces

G.A.P.’s Pullet Standards require perches to be provided throughout the rearing period. This not only gives pullets somewhere to roost at night (a natural and highly motivated behavior), but also ensures that pullets learn how to use vertical spaces. Research has shown that birds reared without access raised platforms or perches are slower to learn how to use them later in life.

In addition, G.A.P. requires that pullets are reared in a similar environment to the one they are to be housed in when they are adults. Therefore, if multiple tiers or levels are used in the laying barn, there should be multiple tiers or levels offered in the pullet barn too. By keeping the two environments similar, stress at transfer is reduced and it ensures that the birds already know how to access all the different areas of their housing environment when they arrive at the laying barn.

3: Reduce Risk of Unwanted Behaviors

You might be wondering what kind of unwanted behavior a hen could possibly do! Hens are highly motivated to forage – by this we mean scratching and pecking at the ground. In natural settings, this is how hens would find their food sources, eating bugs and vegetation they find in their environment. For caged hens, the access to material for foraging, like wood shavings, is extremely limited. This lack of stimulation can result in a redirection of foraging-like behaviors on to the feathers of their fellow hens. In the industry and scientific literature, this is known as feather pecking. Severe feather pecking is painful for the victim and can result in large bald patches and even damage to the skin.

G.A.P.’s pullet Standards require that chicks and pullets are provided with material for foraging from day 1 – and that it’s kept dry and usable (not wet and clumpy). This helps reduce the likelihood of feather pecking developing and improves welfare of the flock. We also highly recommend providing enrichments for pullets as extra items can help reduce the development of feather pecking even more so!

At G.A.P., we try to ask ourselves “why?” with every decision we make. This helps our standard-setting process stay thoughtful and ensures that every requirement has a purpose. G.A.P.’s approach to farm animal welfare is always focused on the animal first. That’s why our standards cover the lifecycle of the animal, not just adulthood. We hope this information has helped answer some of your own “why?” questions about pullets and laying hens.

For more information, check out our species-specific standards pages here and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay up-to-date!

The post Impacting the Early Life of a Laying Hen appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

But, in all seriousness, National Seafood Month is a great opportunity to learn about seafood. Specifically, it’s a chance for G.A.P. to share more about our dive into farmed salmon welfare.

Why fish welfare?

In our earlier blog which teased the launch of our salmon welfare standard, we gave some reasons for the “why” behind fish welfare, which included better salmon health and well-being.

Fish also need good welfare because, contrary to popular belief, fish are intelligent! Dory the blue tang may have encouraged the idea that fish have 3-second memories and aren’t very smart, but that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

Salmon are a great example – after hatching in freshwater streams and rivers, they swim out to sea and can spend years traveling thousands of miles across open ocean. When they’re ready to reproduce, they’re able to find their way back to the “home stream” where they hatched; clearly a 3-second memory wouldn’t allow this amazing migration to occur season after season.

Studies have also shown that salmon can learn from one another and have social structures, further proving wrong the image of mindless swimming machines.

Underwater Farms

Another way to ensure good salmon welfare is to look at the farm system itself, but you’re not alone if you’re thinking “what does a salmon farm even look like?!”

Different systems are used to raise salmon at different life stages, because salmon spend their life in both salt and freshwater.

A typical salmon production system might look something like this:

1. Eggs are fertilized, incubated and hatched in freshwater trays with water flowing over them as it would in a stream or river. These eggs come from parents which are selected to pass on certain genetic traits, like disease-resistance, to their offspring.
2. Once they’re big enough, these juvenile salmon are raised on land in freshwater tanks. In parts of Scotland, Norway, and Chile it’s more common to see open-water nets in freshwater lakes or fjords to grow the young salmon.
3. After about a year in freshwater, salmon undergo a physiological change to adapt to seawater, called “smoltification.” Now they’re ready for the ocean!
4. The majority of adult salmon are grown for 2-3 more years in open-water marine net pens. These pens are enormous, spanning up to 150 m across (longer than a football field!), and a farm will usually have 6-8 of them anchored in a group to the sea floor.

Bridging the “GAP”

Ensuring that these complex and varied systems are working to serve salmon producers, good fish welfare is key to the development of our farmed salmon standard.

Keep checking back for more announcements about our farmed salmon welfare standard and more blogs on fish. In the meantime, #MakeitGAP for the meat you buy this holiday season and get inspired by our recipe page!

The post Farmed Salmon Welfare 101 appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

Many of G.A.P.’s partner farms and ranches are located in geographies that experience cold, snowy winters. Though beef cattle can weather the colder weather better than some of our other G.A.P. species, like broilers and turkeys, feeding and managing cattle through the winter is no cake walk (no pun intended!). With colder temperatures, ranchers face challenges such as pastures full of dormant forages, the animal’s thermal comfort, and early calving cows that seem to wait until a big storm to give birth.

G.A.P. Farm Life: Wilsey Ranch in Winter

The ranch keeps the cattle on pasture throughout the winter where they can eat their fill of the forages harvested during the growing season. The ranch rotates the herd through each of the fields, allowing the manure produced from the herd to be spread throughout – which is a great fertilizer for the fields. Basically, the cattle themselves do an excellent job at returning nutrients to the soil!

Calving season starts in February, so it’s important to make sure the cows have enough to eat to help support nursing their newborn calves through the spring. The pregnant cows are brought closer to the ranch right before calving so that the new mothers and babies can be more closely monitored. Though the young calves will pick a bit at the hay on the ground, their main diet is cows’ milk. They prefer to use the hay piles as comfy resting places instead!

Like this post? Let us know! To keep up-to-date with more posts like this, follow #GAPFarmLife on social media!

The post G.A.P. Farm Life: The Grass is Always Greener… In the Hay Bale appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

Farmers are often awake at the crack of dawn, trying to squeeze the most out of every day. Different management systems require different things, but attention to detail is important in all farming. Making sure the animals are safe, warm, fed, and watered are important all year-round, be that in the winter to increase bedding for warmth or the summer to ensure they stay cool. Think of newborn piglets that need extra care – for our partners, Karro Food Group, this means making sure that sows farrowing in outdoor huts are given sufficient bedding and nesting materials to help keep her piglets warm. In the photo below, you can see the farrowing huts along the left – these house one sow and all of her piglets, once they’re born. These huts can stay pretty warm with body heat from the sow and piglets, think of them as the engines that generate the heat and the huts are designed to keep that heat in the winter and cool in the summer. Clever insulation technology is used in farming just like that used in houses for people.

Some early morning checks in the winter involve checking water lines to make sure they haven’t frozen, adjusting diets to help keep pigs warm, making sure pens and huts are dry, checking for sick pigs, and the list goes on. We know G.A.P. farmers are passionate about their pigs – because nobody gets up early on winter mornings unless they care.

A winter limerick:

On cold winter days such as these,
Everyone else is dreaming of palm trees.
But farmers must rise and shine,
To check that the pigs are fine.
Thank goodness it’s not me who has to freeze.

We want to hear from you! If you are a farmer or rancher, what are some of the things you do to care for your animals in the winter?

Want to see more #GAPFarmLife posts? Follow the hashtag #GAPFarmLife on our Instagram page.

The post G.A.P. Farm Life: Snow Days appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

Depending on where the information comes from, farming is painted in either an exceptionally negative or exceptionally positive light. You’ve probably become used to seeing either animals piled in cages on top of each other, or cows dotted along a pasture on a bright, sunny day with daisies in the foreground. It’s hard to know what normal looks like when you’ve only been given two extremes.

That’s why we created G.A.P. Farm Life. Our consumers deserve to know what farmers and ranchers do day-in and day-out to take care of animals certified to our G.A.P. animal welfare standards. After all, in order to trust our label, you have to understand our process. Spoiler Alert: our standards are based in science, but practical enough to be implemented consistently on all G.A.P. farms. And we mean, ALL farms. We make sure each and every one of our G.A.P.-certified farms are audited so we know our standards are being met.

For the next few months, we’re going to let our #GAPFarmLife social media stories and blog posts open the farm gates to show you our program in action.

From seemingly mundane to unquestionably interesting topics, we will highlight a wide variety of farming practices in an effort to shed some light on this otherwise mysterious industry. Check out our next few blogs and these Instagram posts to get a taste of #GAPFarmLife:

• Snow Days (a day in the life of a pig farmer)
• The Grass is Always Greener…In the Haybale (winter feeding on a beef cattle ranch)

We’ve got stories to tell, and lots of partners to highlight in the coming months, so be sure to follow us on Instagram, check our website for new articles, and subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Have a topic or question you want to learn more about? Follow #GAPFarmLife on Instagram and comment or message us. Are you a G.A.P.-certified producer willing to be a part of our story? Email info@globalanimalpartnership.org to find out how you can participate! (Psst… We’re offering program incentives for partners willing to share their photos and stories.)

So, until next time, remember you can learn more about our labeling program at certifiedGAP.org. And when you’re in the grocery store, remember to #MakeItGAP!

The post G.A.P. Farm Life: A Peek Inside G.A.P. Certified Farms appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

A Spotlight on Certificates: Compliance and Traceability

G.A.P. has more than 3500 farms certified in its program. For those livestock managers, ranchers or farmers thinking about joining our Program, you might be curious to know a little more about certification, what the GAP certificate looks like and why it’s important to keep a copy once you are certified.

What goes on a G.A.P. certificate?

Once you’ve had your G.A.P. audit and your certifier has determined the farm has passed the audit, you will receive a G.A.P. certificate. While each G.A.P.-accredited certifier has their own template and style, every certificate contains important information:

• The farm’s name and address;
• The type of operation: for example on a beef certificate, this will indicate whether the operation raises cow-calf pairs, backgrounders, or finishers;
• The farm/ranch’s Step-rating;
• Dates of approval: this indicates when the certificate can be used and when it expires;
• Unique certificate number: this allows certifiers to trace animals to the farms where they were raised; and
• The certifier’s seal or signature: this shows the farm has been audited, verified and approved to the G.A.P. standards by the certifier.

Who gets a copy of the certificate?

The certifier sends the G.A.P. certificate to the owner or manager of the farm or ranch and if applicable, affiliated marketing entity.

What happens when I receive my certificate?

Livestock managers, ranchers or farmers need to make sure all the information on the certificate is accurate. You will also need to keep a copy of the certificate on file.

What happens when my G.A.P.-certified animals leave the farm?

In order for G.A.P. animals to be transported to their next destination (whether that is another farm to continue growing or to the slaughter facility), the certificate must accompany each shipment of animals. The G.A.P. certificate acts like a passport, verifying the identity of G.A.P. animals and which Step-level they achieved.

At the end of the day…

The G.A.P. certificate provides you with verification that your animals are in compliance with the G.A.P. standards. The certificate also provides a mechanism for certifiers and those that buy G.A.P. certified animals to check chain of custody. At the end of the day, this means that suppliers can definitively put the G.A.P. label on product, giving customers assurance that the meat they purchase is from G.A.P. farms.

So when you receive your G.A.P. certificate, after your jubilation and celebrations make sure you check all the information is accurate and contact your certifier if you spot a mistake.

The post What Does a G.A.P. Certificate Look Like? appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

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Global Animal Partnership’s formula for creating practical animal welfare standards

If you are a livestock manager, rancher or farmer and thinking about joining the Global Animal Partnership Program, one of the first things you will probably do is read the Standards to see what they are about and where your farm might fit. But who is involved in creating these animal welfare standards in the first place, and are farmers part of this process?

The simple answer is yes. The G.A.P. Farm Team has a rigorous process for setting standards – one that involves input from lots of experts – including farmers – to make sure we have clear, transparent and practical standards. At each stage of our process, we ask the farming community for feedback, and together with input from animal scientists, veterinarians, nutritionists and our other stakeholders, the result is a set of standards that blends the best scientific and practical knowledge currently available.

Here’s our formula for putting together practical animal welfare standards:

Research & Development: Our Farm Team starts drafting a preliminary outline. We consult with farmers, scientists and our certifiers for initial input, as well as review the latest research and industry developments.

Review: The Farm Team then drafts the standard and goes back to the farmers, scientists and certifiers for their preliminary thoughts on what works, what will be a challenge, and what might benefit from further clarification.

On-Farm Testing: Next we take the standards and test them in-the-field. We work with several different farm groups, located in different parts of the country, to gather more information about how the standard will work in reality. Our Farm Team visits a number of farms and ranches to ‘test’ the standard out in a true farm setting.

Public Comment: The Farm Team then posts the standard for public comment on our website, soliciting feedback from the wider farming community as well as retailers, food service, animal advocacy groups, scientists, veterinarians and other experts.

Revision: After the on-farm testing and public comment period, the Farm Team reviews and addresses the concerns that were raised during that process and complete a final draft standard.

Approval: The Farm Team presents the final draft standard to the G.A.P. Board of Directors for review and approval. Once approved by the Board, the standard is posted on our website and is ready to be used.

We use this same process for a new standard as for revising and updating an existing standard. Updates are not only posted on our website once approved, but G.A.P. also distributes updates to all farmers and ranchers that are currently certified.

As you can tell, lots of factors are considered as G.A.P. develops a set of animal welfare standards and it takes time. Creating a good set of standards means a lot of drafts, testing and communication to get it right, but we can’t do that without the invaluable insights of our farmers and ranchers. Remember, when standards are posted for public comment on our website, be sure to give us your input, we want to hear from you!

The post Creating Animal Welfare Standards appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.

Animal welfare labels and claims seem to be everywhere on meat products these days. With so many different labels, it can be hard to keep track of the different programs and understand how they’re different.

G.A.P.’s standards are rigorous, with even Step 1 farmers having to comply with more than 100 different requirements. The G.A.P. team develops each standard with input from animal welfare scientists and experts, farmers, ranchers, and other industry representatives. In addition, G.A.P. works hard to make sure every standard is written clearly, so farmers and ranchers know how to meet it, auditors know how to audit it, and consumers know what they’re buying. That way, everyone is on the same page and each farm is held to the same mark.

Below are examples of two different standards developed for young turkeys (poults), specifically addressing their arrival to the barn from the hatchery:

G.A.P.’s Standard

• • Placement of poults must begin within two hours of delivery to the operation.
  • Documentation (whether a trucking sheet, bill of lading, delivery slip, delivery invoice, or other) of each shipment of poults from the hatchery is required that includes:
    • time of poult removal from the hatcher;
    • time of arrival onto the operation applying for 5‐Step® certification;
    • time of placement.

Another Program’s Standard

• Poults must be placed under brooders without delay on arrival from the hatchery.

As you read through both of the above examples, ask yourself:

• • Is the wording clear and exact, or is it vague and general?
  • Which standard:
    • Has the fewest loopholes?
    • Is the most measurable? In other words, can it be easily and reliably verified by an auditor?
    • Would be interpreted in the same way by all auditors?
    • Would create the fewest misunderstandings?

While you’re here on our website, check out more examples of G.A.P.’s awesome standards, info on how to become G.A.P. certified, and follow G.A.P. on social media pages to learn more.

Let us know what you think. Comment below or tweet to us at @certifiedGAP on Twitter.

The post What Makes a Good Standard? appeared first on Global Animal Partnership.