Audience: Farm Partners Archives - Global Animal Partnership

The Dog Days of Summer

Krysta Morrissey — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 23:03:02 +0000

A few months ago, we wrote about the #polarvortex. Now, we are in the midst of the dog days of summer, and staying cool is what’s on most of our minds. What many of us would like to do is cannonball into a cool, refreshing lake or pool. If you were a pig, though, all you’d want to do is roll around in the mud!

So what’s with pigs and mud anyway?

Did you know that pigs don’t have functional sweat glands? This little tidbit of information is great to have in your back pocket during trivia night at the local pub, but to a pig farmer, it’s way more important than just random knowledge. Without sweat glands, pigs cannot take advantage of evaporative cooling (that’s just a fancy way of explaining that wet skin makes you feel cooler) without supplemental moisture. That’s where the mud comes in! Mud keeps the pigs’ skin wet for longer than just plain water, giving them a prolonged cooling effect.

G.A.P.’s farm animal welfare standards require that farms maintain thermal comfort for their pigs – so providing pigs with access to mud in the summer is a good way to do this while allowing them to express their natural behavior. Mud has another benefit which is particularly important for pink pigs – it can double as a sunscreen, preventing sunburns for pigs that spend time outdoors. Pretty clever, right?

G.A.P.’s Standards in Action

Our partners at Rancho Llano Seco know all too well that keeping pigs cool and comfortable is paramount to good animal welfare, especially in the hot summer months in Chico, California.

Rancho Llano Seco in California

They’ve worked hard to build barns that are designed to disperse heat – high ceilings and roll-up fabric siding aid in air flow and good ventilation through the barn. Keeping the air moving means that the heat doesn’t have a chance to build up around the pigs. In addition, the barns are equipped with misters that run for 5-minute intervals every 20 minutes during the daytime in the summers. This is enough time to get the pigs a bit wet, and then allow for an evaporation period. Remember, like sweat on humans, moisture on pigs needs to evaporate in order to effectively cool them down.

Pigs enjoying the mud outdoors

At this farm, pigs are also given access to an outdoor area, where mud wallows are provided by running sprinklers in certain areas. The sprinklers outside aren’t run on timers like they are indoors, but are used generously on really warm days. Pigs at Rancho Llano Seco are happy to spend time in the wallows and cover themselves with a nice layer of mud. They definitely know how to keep their cool when the mercury starts rising!

Being G.A.P. Animal Welfare Certified

Did you know? G.A.P.’s comprehensive animal welfare standards cover the entire lifecycle of the animal – from birth to slaughter. Check out one of our other blogs on pig farming and the standards around raising and weaning young pigs here. G.A.P. sets the standards, our valued partners implement them, and our third-party certifiers audit every farm to ensure the standards are being met. It’s an important process that helps us impact the lives of more than 416 million animals annually. At G.A.P., we value our loyal farm and ranch partners who work diligently to care for the animals and their environments everyday. Interested in getting G.A.P. certified? Click here to learn more about our standards or click here to fill out a pre-application and be contacted by someone from our farm team. We welcome your questions and interest.

Like this post? Have your own story you want to share? Let us know! To keep up-to-date with more posts like this, follow #GAPFarmLife on our social media feeds (including Instagram and Facebook)! Have a great summer!

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Help! I’m a Farmer, not a Bookkeeper!

Global Animal Partnership — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 13:01:55 +0000

How to Use G.A.P.’s Records Templates

At G.A.P., we want farmers to succeed. Our standards may be tough, but our goal is to drive continuous improvement in animal welfare. To help reach that goal, we work to support the farmers and ranchers who are seeking G.A.P. animal welfare certification.

That’s why G.A.P. has developed tools to help producers. G.A.P.’s record templates make it easier to keep required records of daily events and occurrences. There are two types of documents available:

An easy-to-use .pdf template for each type of record (e.g. treatment records) that producers can use, as needed, to replace and/or supplement their own records (available for all G.A.P. species), and
A ‘smart’ excel document that allows producers to track and monitor multiple events in one place, in real time (available for broilers, turkeys, pigs, and sheep). For example, mortality, air quality, outdoor access, and more, can all be tracked together in one document!

The ‘smart’ sheets differ depending on the specific needs for each species, but in general, they can help track:

Flock/herd check dates and times,
Mortalities/culls and causes of death (and instantaneous mortality rate calculations),
Daily air quality,
Outdoor access dates and times,
Flock-/herd-level problems, remedial actions and outcomes,
And more!

Special features include dropdown menus, automated calculations, and changing cell colors that can be used to flag compliance issues, like exceeding the air quality thresholds. This will help remind you to implement a working written intervention plan to bring the values back into compliance.

We’ve also created a specialized scoring sheet for footpad dermatitis (FPD) scoring for broilers and turkeys. This easy-to-use document can help you track FPD scores at the touch of a button.

If you like the sounds of G.A.P.’s ‘smart sheet’ records template – check them out on our website. Every document has a short “How-to Guide” video to walk you through the features. We recommend using these documents on your computer, but they are also compatible with Microsoft Excel apps on your mobile devices. In addition, each document has a brief instructions portion at the top for quick tips. And lastly, don’t forget to refer to our Standards for more information.

If you have suggestions on how to make these templates work better for you – we want to hear from you! We would be happy to work with you to create a personalized document that will suit your specific needs. Leave a message on our website, or email us at info@globalanimalpartnership.org.

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5 Ways to Ace Your Turkey Welfare Audit

Global Animal Partnership — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 10:21:39 +0000

Okay, okay, so you can’t actually “ace” an animal welfare audit, but it’s always nice when your certifier sends you an audit report saying that you’re in compliance with every standard, right?

Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) knows that audits can be stressful – especially preparing for one! That’s why G.A.P. has made a point to support our turkey producers with materials and guidance to help them be prepared before the auditor arrives on their farm.

Here are some handy tips to help you get ready:

Complete the Turkey Audit Prep Tool to see if you are meeting the standards. This is a simple checklist to help you identify where you may have issues with standards compliance. It’s broken down by Step-level, so you can jump to the one you are aiming for without having to sift through the others. For instance, if you are aiming for a Step 2, do you know exactly how many enrichments you need in your barns?
Work with your certifier. If you think you might be out of compliance while using the Turkey Audit Prep Tool, contact your certifier for additional help. They have a thorough understanding of the standards, and will be able to tell you exactly what their auditor will be looking for.
Review the Records and Documents Checklist to make sure your paperwork is ready. This checklist can be found in the last section of the Turkey Audit Prep Tool. Throughout the Turkey Standards, several types of management paperwork are required. From lameness evaluations to a biosecurity plan, this quick and easy checklist will let you know every document you’ll need to have ready for your auditor.
Download any missing record templates from the G.A.P. website. If this is your first time being audited, you might find that you are missing a certain type of record while reviewing the Records and Documents Checklist, such as daily air quality assessments or lameness records. No need to worry – we’ve got you covered there too! Simply visit the Turkey page of the G.A.P. website, download a template for the record you are missing, and have a copy ready to show your auditor.
Make sure you have everything in order before scheduling the audit. There is nothing more stressful than having a deadline. If you need to add more enrichments or hunt down a misplaced poult delivery slip, give yourself time to do those things.

Once you’ve gone through this process, you can call up your certifier, schedule the onsite visit, and be confident that you are ready “ace” (well, you know what we mean) your audit!

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Getting and Staying Certified: The Three Stages of the G.A.P. Certification Cycle

Global Animal Partnership — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 12:05:49 +0000

I’ve had my audit…now what?

If you are new to the G.A.P. program, you may have done some work preparing for your first audit. After the Auditor leaves, you may be wondering what to expect next. We have broken down the next fifteen months into three stages to help you understand what to expect and how to be prepared to maintain continuous G.A.P. certification.

1. Initial Audit

While onsite, the Auditor will assess your farm/ranch and record your farm/ranch details in a document (called the audit form) that is submitted to a Reviewer. The Reviewer is the person at the third-party certifier who decides compliance and issues a certificate. While the Auditor does conduct an exit interview that gives you a list of non-conformances, this list may change based on decisions by the Reviewer.

During the review process, the Reviewer may contact you, requesting additional information or corrective actions to be performed and documented. Once the Reviewer has all the information they need from you and has reviewed all relevant information from the Auditor, they will decide whether to certify your farm/ranch. If you are certified, you will receive your certificate and audit report by email, unless you request them to be mailed.

2. Maintaining G.A.P. Certification

After the Auditor leaves, your daily management practices should be maintained to the G.A.P. standards for the next 15 months, when your next audit will happen – this includes any adjustments to your management practices identified during the certification process. Your selected Certifier or G.A.P. can be contacted throughout your certification cycle if you have questions or need assistance with any problems.

If you make any major changes to your farm/ranch during your certification, you will need to contact your Certifier prior to ensure they’re aware of the changes as this can impact your certification. ‘Major changes’ include things like change in ownership, change in animal sourcing, adding new buildings/barns, or adding new locations.

3. Renewal Notice and Re-audits

Around four months before your certificate expires, your Certifier will send you a renewal notification. At this time, you will need to submit an application with any updates to your farm/ranch, and then work with the Certifier to set an audit date. In order to maintain continuous certification, your audit will need to be conducted approximately four to eight weeks prior the certification expiry, also allowing you and your Certifier time to schedule your renewal audit so there will be animals onsite.

Once you have scheduled the G.A.P. certification audit, start to get organized for your audit – check out the prep tool resources on the species pages of our website – they can be a great resource to help you get ready.

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What to Expect When You’re Expecting…a G.A.P. Farm Audit

Krysta Morrissey — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 12:37:06 +0000

Three Components of a G.A.P. Farm Audit

Have you ever wondered what an auditor is actually looking for during a G.A.P. animal welfare farm audit? The G.A.P. standards outline specific requirements for ideal animal welfare using three different measurements to assess compliance. These three categories are animal-based, measurement-based, and records-based observations.

Animal-based observations: Accredited, independent third-party auditors will inspect the animals that are on site; observing the animals’ behavior, inspecting the cleanliness of the animal as well as its living conditions, looking for any signs of poor health (like lameness or sickness), and checking for signs of injurious behavior (like tail biting in pigs or feather pecking in turkeys). This will help the auditor determine compliance with G.A.P.’s animal welfare standards for the current group of animals, and to ensure that what the producer is seeing and recording is the same as what the auditor sees.
Measurement-based observations: Compliance to some of G.A.P.’s standards are determined by measurements. For example, compliance to the “stocking density” requirement is calculated by dividing the square footage of an area by the number of animals housed in that space, and is used to determine that the animals have enough space to move around and display their natural behaviors.
Records-based observations: G.A.P. requires records to be kept of daily flock or herd inspections and of other important events that occur on-farm. For example, is air quality being monitored and recorded every day? Did the air quality ever exceed the thresholds allowed? All of this information should be recorded. Checking historical records gives the auditor insight into how the farm and animals were managed in between audits.

Though a farm audit can seem intimidating, G.A.P. has resources available to help you. Before your scheduled audit, check out G.A.P.’s Audit Preparation Tools (for Beef, Broiler Chickens, Turkeys, Sheep, Pigs, Goats, Bison, and Pullets/Laying Hens). These are checklists that ask “yes-or-no” questions to help you determine what Step level you can achieve and to help identify areas that you need to work on. Though these checklists are not required, some producers have found them very helpful.

And don’t forget – when in doubt, reach out to your preferred certifier or directly to G.A.P. for more help (info@globalanimalpartnership.org). Check out our website for more information about a farm audit or farm animal welfare standards.

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A Quick Start Guide to Become G.A.P. Certified

Global Animal Partnership — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:00:08 +0000

– Kate Hill G.A.P. Farm Animal Welfare Specialist

Three Easy Steps to Getting Started with G.A.P.

At Global Animal Partnership, farmers and ranchers regularly reach out to ask us, “What do I have to do to become G.A.P. Certified?” We are always excited when someone new is interested in the program, so we want to provide a quick guide to help new operations get started.

1. Download a copy of the standard from G.A.P.’s website

The first step is to download the standard for the species you will raise from our web site. We currently have standards for eight different types of farm animals, and each species has a page where you can find Standards, producer resources, and applications.

IMPORTANT: Sheep, goats, pigs, and laying hens have additional sets of standards that may be required:

Collection Point Standards are required for sheep, goat, or pig operations that use collections points;
Pullet Standards are required for laying hen operations applying for Steps 2 through 5; and
Goat Kid Standards are required for goat operations sourcing kids from dairy goat operations.

While you are getting a copy of the Standards, you can also download a copy of the application you’ll need to complete in order to apply for certification and other resources we have available for our producers.

2. Determine the Step Level

Once you have the Standards, you will need to determine what Step level you can achieve. You should read all the standards to help you decide this information. On our website, we have our Audit Prep Tool that will help you identify potential issues that could affect Step level and/or certification.

3. Contact the Certifiers

When you have reviewed the Standards and decided on a Step level, you will need to find a certifier. G.A.P. does not audit or make certificate decisions. Instead, we use independent third-party certification companies to conduct audits and issue certificates. Certifiers are accredited by G.A.P. to administer the G.A.P. 5-Step® Program. You will find the companies that can complete your G.A.P. audit on our certification page.

NOTE: EarthClaims provides services in North America. AusMeats provides services in New Zealand and Australia. Please contact G.A.P. directly if you are seeking certification services outside these areas.

How to contact G.A.P.
We hope this guide is helpful as you start your journey to G.A.P. certification. If you have questions about how to become G.A.P. certified, you can contact us at info@globalanimalpartnership.org or 1-877-427-5783.

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

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