Animal Care and Health
APL provides farmers with information on animal care issues to ensure the food they produce meets the highest animal welfare, health and food safety standards.
Stockmanship
It is recognised internationally that the most important factor for ensuring good animal welfare is stockmanship. APL believes this is a critically important part in the process of producing pigs and without proper training the process is compromised. Stockmanship and handling is central to training programs that APL has developed and has been running throughout the country over many years. APL will continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in running and expanding these programs.
Elective Husbandry Procedures
Castration
Australia is one of the few countries that does not routinely castrate all male pigs. We do castrate but it is the producer's decision. In some situations, castration is a necessary management practice for production to meet the consumer requirements. Castration prevents the development of a number of undesirable flavour and odour characteristics of the meat that are rejected by consumers. Pigs that are not castrated are sent to market before they reach sexual maturity.
Ear notching
Ear notching is one of a number of methods utilised for the identification of pigs and as such is a necessary component of farm management. It enables a producer to quickly identify the pig to monitor its growth rate. Livestock identification is also important to enable livestock to be traced if there is a disease outbreak - providing further assurance to our food quality.
Teeth clipping
Teeth clipping is a practice to prevent injury to litter mates and udders of nursing sows.
Tail docking
Tail biting is a common problem in all production systems and the practice of tail docking is done as a preventive measure to reduce injuries.
Diet
Australian pigs are fed specially designed grain based rations. To ensure a balanced diet, farmers include vitamins and mineral supplements in the pig's diet.
Antibiotics and hormones
Product safety and animal welfare are very high priorities for Australian pig farmers. All products registered for use in pigs are thoroughly evaluated by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) for safety in humans and pigs before being granted registration. These requirements are amongst the highest in the world. Control of disease by the use of antibiotics is an important part of overall animal being and welfare.
The use of products that are classified as hormones results in lean pork that meets the needs of customers. These products have been determined by the APVMA and FSANZ to pose no health risks for humans, however not all pigs are treated with these products.