Researchers seeking pig industry views for welfare workshop
Researchers working to boost welfare in the pig industry are calling on farmers to attend a free workshop in Shropshire this week.
The Farming Futures: A Good Life for Pigs event has been organised by Dr Holly Vickery and Dr Laura Palczynski.
It is open to everyone involved in the industry, whether they are a farm manager, owner, or worker, or play a wider role in the industry such as a pig veterinarian, nutrition advisor or industry representative.
Dr Palczynski said: “Our resident pig specialist Alan Stewart will be sharing the kinds of strategies the Harper Pig Unit currently uses - and may use in the future.
“We will also be touring the Harper Adams Future Farm to consider the tech and innovations used on the dairy and how some of these could transfer to the pig industry."
The team also want to hear more about how those in industry think research from institutions such as Harper Adams can be practically applied elsewhere.
Dr Vickery added: “In order for research to be useful and have impact, it needs to be aligned to industry needs - and to do that we need to fully understand what obstacles and opportunities may exist.
“Thats why we want to hear from those directly involved in the industry, and in particular farmers themselves, so that we can understand how best to plan and prioritise future research.
“We can propose lots of strategies to improve pig welfare, but what we really need to consider is how these will practically work.
“We want to look for the win-wins: opportunities to improve pig welfare alongside benefits for staff whether that’s time saving, making tasks easier, streamlining admin, as well as being financially viable and cost-effective.
“If we can show that strategies make good business sense - and we embed that aim from the start – they are more likely to be used.”
The event will be held on Friday, January 10 and those interested in attending can register at harper.ac.uk/pigjan25
