Animal Welfare in Animal Husbandry Our responsibility and that of the producers. Start Responsibility Sustainability Issues Animal Welfare in Animal Husbandry We require that the animals that we slaughter and process be kept and raised in a reasonable manner. At Tönnies we support our producers in ensuring and further developing animal welfare and animal protection in husbandry. Animal welfare in animal husbandry At Tönnies we support our producers in ensuring and further developing animal welfare and animal protection in husbandry. We work in close collaboration with them so that they address the right issues and find common approaches to finding investments in husbandry that also benefit farmers. Dr. Wilhelm Jaeger Director of Agriculture Department Ask a question Important key figures Our actions Animal welfare contact partner for producers On average in 2018 one German farmer fed approx. 135 people; in 1990 it was 69*. Farmers today work in a much more productive way. At the same time, consumers also expect that quality products be available at a fair price and around the clock. Farmers have to produce large quantities of top-class products, ensure species-appropriate husbandry of more and more animals, and regularly invest in their husbandry in order to fulfil statutory requirements. At Tönnies we support our producers in mastering these tasks and remaining sustainable. No one agricultural company is like another. In recent years, we have developed different husbandry, feed and management systems. In animal husbandry, there is no one ideal solution that is suitable for all. For the same reason, no husbandry system is good or bad per se. Detailed, animal related observation over the life of the animals is crucial. In all programmes and improvements started and implemented by Tönnies in collaboration with our producers, the focus is thus on careful observation of the individual animal. Animal welfare measures must be considered as a whole. Improvements in animal husbandry can generally relate to breeding, rearing, fattening, husbandry, feeding and transport. However, changes in one area can have implications for the subsequent areas. Four central factors for greater animal welfare Four key factors are important for our producers and us at Tönnies so that we can successfully achieve animal welfare improvements in husbandry. These four factors are important screws that we turn together with our producers – for greater animal welfare in husbandry. Animal welfare improvements in collaborative production can only be guaranteed if a common approach is adopted by the persons involved. Tönnies thus also accepts responsibility in this regard. Animal welfare improvements must draw on scientifically verified criteria – Tönnies Research is working intensively on this with an annual budget of approx. EUR 300,000. Animal welfare improvements that exceed statutory standards cost money. The majority of this money should go to the producers – to thus set suitable incentives for producers. The data on the ante and post mortem checks recorded by veterinarians and inspectors can be used to draw comprehensive conclusions on the welfare of the animals. The Tönnies Agriculture department uses this information to develop criteria and improvements in husbandry and searches for solutions with producers. Increased animal welfare by transparent labelling of husbandry systems In cooperation with German trading companies, in 2018 Tönnies introduced a label for husbandry systems for meat (more information at www.haltungsform.de). Since then, consumers can see on all packaging and at the deli counter how the animals were housed, whose meat we eat. It is important that the consumer be able to easily and directly identify from which kind of husbandry system an animal originated. The now consistent form of labelling in the German retail industry — (1) Animal Housing, (2) Animal Housing Plus, (3) Outdoor Environment and (4) Premium— provides transparency for consumers. Tönnies offers meat from all four husbandry systems. Now it is time to increase the demand for meat from the better husbandry systems. With the help of a common and consistent style of labelling, the overall level of animal husbandry could be increased. Therefore, we are committed to bringing the entire basic range of pork which is marketed in the German food retail trade into the husbandry system (2) Animal Housing Plus. Further programmes at level (3) Outdoor Environment and level (4) Premium will complement this approach to cater to the demand for more comprehensive animal welfare programmes. Even better would be a legal stipulation or even an obligation to identify the type of housing. That is why Tönnies is actively involved in the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the implementation of a state animal welfare label. This label could be a further step towards mandatory husbandry labeling for all meat marketing channels in Germany. 1. Animal welfare improvements in collaborative production can only be guaranteed if a common approach is adopted by the persons involved. Tönnies thus also accepts responsibility in this regard. All agents in the value creation chain are obliged to observe animal welfare The RFID-UHF ear tag stores information from birth to slaughter In the 21st century, food is produced collaboratively. To ensure and finance better animal welfare, all agents in the value creation chain must participate. Tönnies interacts with the partners in the value creation chain with the aim of bringing together the often different goals in the area of animal welfare to one common denominator. Tönnies is in contact with the retail industry in particular with regard to how animal welfare programmes are marketed and monetarised. Farmers can and will only improve animal welfare when they receive the financial resources that they invest in husbandry back as profit. Many agents are involved in the improvement of animal welfare, including farmers, the meat industry, science & research, NGOs, associations, the food industry etc. As a result, sometimes it takes more time than we would like for animal welfare improvements and incentive systems to be put into action and the products to become available in participating stores. 2. Animal welfare improvements must draw on scientifically verified criteria – Tönnies Research is working intensively on this with an annual budget of approx. EUR 300,000. Tönnies Research for better animal welfare in practice Tönnies Research helps to further research animal welfare criteria for livestock husbandry and to develop recommendations for practice. Both the work supported by Tönnies Research and external work produce valuable findings. For example, in recent years, many projects have been carried out on the topic of ‘tail-biting’ by pigs. To this end, amongst others, Tönnies Research organised a workshop on tail biting with project managers and scientists from different disciplines. Most work relates to the keeping of fattening pigs. Scientists and practitioners at the Tail Biting Workshop Selected findings from the workshop Very different factors can contribute to tail biting. The risk factors and the solutions for individual companies are thus differentiated per site. In force-ventilated full or partial column systems, the criteria of manipulable material, feeding, water supply and animal health play a significant role. Observation by the livestock owner is key to best dealing with tail biting: if the problem is recognised promptly, it is possible to intervene early and introduce measures to make structural changes. The (nutrition) physiological factors of the development of necrosis have been underestimated until now. Tönnies Research will thus provide greater support to work that focuses on the link between intestinal health and tail biting. 3. Animal welfare improvements that exceed statutory standards cost money. The majority of this money should go to the producers – suitable incentives must be set for producers. Animal Welfare Initiative has been in existence since 2015 Initiative Tierwohl exceeds legal standards Producers face the greatest expense for improvements in animal welfare in husbandry. They must be paid if they improve their animal husbandry in excess of the legal standards. For example, producers should be confident that an investment such as the new construction of a modern stall will pay off year after year. This is only the case if the retail industry permanently pays higher purchase prices for particular animal welfare improvements and if the consumer is also willing to pay more for these labelled products. Initiative Tierwohl shows that remuneration on the basis of measures implemented by the farmer can bring about change. Negotiations are currently underway for the next phase of the Animal Welfare Initiative from 2021. Tönnies is committed to ensuring that meat from companies belonging to the Animal Welfare Initiative is available as widely as possible in the future and is labeled as keeping type 2 meat as consistently as possible (Stable Housing Plus). Initiative Tierwohl strives for nationwide implementation Tönnies is the founding and development partner of Initiative Tierwohl. Initiative Tierwohl, which was started in 2015, is a collaboration between farmers, the meat industry, animal protection organisations and the food industry. The central goal is to make an offer to as many farmers as possible in order to implement improved animal welfare practices as extensively as possible. Within the framework of the initiative, participating retailers have committed to pay EUR 0.625 (since 2018) to the initiative per kilogram of pork and sausage sold. This generates approx. EUR 130 million every year which remunerates the famers for the animal welfare improvements. As of the start of 2018, based on their own data, Initiative Tierwohl had recorded 4,000 pig-husbandry companies with approx. 26 million pigs that have benefited from the animal welfare measures. More information: www.initiative-tierwohl.de Key figures Initiative Tierwohl 4. The data on the ante and post mortem checks recorded by veterinarians and inspectors can be used to draw comprehensive conclusions on the welfare of the animals. The Tönnies Agriculture department uses this information to develop criteria and improvements in husbandry and searches for solutions with producers. Official slaughtering inspection for complete diagnostic data on animal welfare Official veterinarians and meat inspectors within the region examine every animal slaughtered by Tönnies. The goal is to establish the health condition and well-being of the animals when they arrive at the site and the condition of the animals on the slaughter line. The slaughter line is used to examine the carcases and internal organs. All diagnostic data is collected, analysed and archived in the Agriculture Department at Tönnies. The recorded diagnostic data enables detailed conclusions to be drawn on the well-being of the animals during the holding period. A veterinarian will examine the health of the pigs on arrival This data is a good indicator of the animal’s welfare Joint health Integrity of tail Integrity of ears Respiratory health Intestinal health Liver health The parameters are analysed for every animal and systematically evaluated. The data is fed back to the agricultural companies, specifically in the case of noteworthy evaluations. These form the basis for advice to the companies on permanently improving animal welfare. The companies also receive the corresponding infrastructure from Tönnies with internet-based data response and reporting systems for the individual company. Our next goals The 100% subsidiary, Tönnies Livestock, focuses on the requirements for cross-chain systems to improve animal health, food safety and support for breeding work and the further development of animal-friendly husbandry systems. Tönnies Livestock and Tönnies will continue to work trustfully and unreservedly with marketers and livestock trading companies as partners. The aim is to work together to secure backing from retailers and acceptance by consumers. We work hand in hand with our suppliers and farmers as practically oriented as possible to optimize the tension between economic constraints and modern animal husbandry. The further development of our current husbandry system towards alternative animal-friendly husbandry systems which meet the sensitivities of the animals is a significant task for the future. Tönnies already has a clear timetable for approaching this task. Even today, 30% of pigs are kept in non-legal standards. In addition, we are raising the animal welfare level for the entire range in German food retailing to level 2. We want to continuously expand this quota and the number of agricultural partners with animal welfare stalls. In addition, we create a sufficient supply from the higher husbandry levels As a pioneer, we have been dealing with alternative forms of husbandry for years. We share our collection of knowledge on the construction of animal welfare stalls with interested farmers and partners. In cooperation with experts, we have developed concepts for new buildings in the area of open-front stalls as well as practicable conversion solutions for existing stables. In the near future we want to increase the number of pigs for keeping type 3 to 3000 pigs per week. At the same time, the construction of open-front stables is being promoted and promoted both organizationally and structurally. Tönnies is working together with partners to further develop piglet production. A major project is currently underway with stalls that allow the sows to roam free with group suckling of the piglets. Now it is a matter of keeping type 2 StallhaltungPlus as the basic range in all German retail stores. Nothing stands in the way of interlinking the criteria with the concepts currently being developed for the state animal welfare label. In 2021 we are planning the comprehensive conversion of our pork and selected sausage products for the food retail industry to type 2 farming. Ultimately, the other marketing channels should also follow suit or there should be a legal obligation for comprehensive husbandry labeling. Tönnies also actively tries to motivate customers from the catering and food service to market meat from animals from higher husbandry levels. Together with our partners in the chain, including food retailers, agriculture and other stakeholders from the dairy and meat industries, we are working in a project group for the expansion of the animal welfare initiative and husbandry form 2 for cattle. At the same time, we also want to promote housing type 3. Together with partners in the food retail sector, we are actively working on expanding quality meat programs that sustainably promote animal welfare and climate protection measures in cattle farming. Since 2014, as part of the BEST Beef program, we have been continuously improving the housing conditions for dairy cows and are continuously developing it together with partners from agriculture and the industry. With Bestbeef we are successfully addressing the demands of society and politics for more animal welfare. There is currently no corresponding animal welfare label for cattle. Here we want to actively promote the process of developing a corresponding label. We are sure that we will succeed together with all partners in the chain. Here we also count on the good cooperation with the competence network beef of the Borchert Commission. Tönnies participates in the SAI / ERBS (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform / European Round Table Sustainable Beef). Together with partners from the trade, the meat industry and other stakeholders at the German and European level, we develop strategies and concepts with which the animal welfare and the keeping conditions of cattle are to be sustainably improved. Current projects focus on reducing negative CO2 consumption in cattle farming, the use of antibiotics and tethering. That’s what we’re dealing with Sustainability Transparency Responsibility Animal welfare The expert How can you observe individual animals that you slaughter? What happens if you identify that tail biting occurs with unusual frequency in a company? What is the most important task when working with the producers? Ask us! Dialogue is important to us. So we would like to hear your questions and respond to the issues that concern you. Write to us! Our contact partner Dr Wilhelm Jaeger, Director of Tönnies Agriculture, answers your relevant questions here. In the case of similar questions, we group the answers together. Your name Your email address* Animal Protection during the Slaughter Process Food safety Animal Welfare in Animal Husbandry Protection of resources Employer Healthy nutrition with meat Antibiotics Climate protection in animal husbandry Others Your message I agree that my data will be stored and processed for the purpose of this request. Dr. Wilhelm Jaeger Director of Agriculture Department About Tönnies The Tönnies Group is a family company that is active at several levels of the food industry. The international company operates in eight divisions, has approximately 16,500 employees, and generates annual sales in the billions. The core business of the company, which was established in 1971, concerns the slaughter, butchering, processing and refining of pigs, sows and cattle. IMPRINT | DATE PROTECTION