Center For Food Animal Wellbeing Hosting Annual Symposium Aug. 3

submitted

Hongwei Xin is the Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in the departments of agricultural and biosystems engineering and animal science at Iowa State University, Iowa Egg Council endowed professor, director of the Egg Industry Center at ISU and assistant dean for research in ISU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Xin was a post-doc research associate at the U of A, conducting broiler housing research. His presentation is "Technology will Advance Animal Wellbeing."

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Considerations and innovations in transporting poultry and hogs and the challenges and opportunities in managing beef cattle health and well-being will be among the topics covered Aug. 3 during the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing's seventh annual symposium on current issues and advances in food animal well-being. The center is a unit of the U of A System Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the U of A.

The one-day symposium will be in the Leland Tollet Auditorium inside the John W. Tyson Poultry Science Building on the U of A campus. Registration is $25.

"This year we have something special for everyone, beginning with the issues around food animal transportation, how technology will improve animal welfare, behavior of beef cattle and the impact of new regulations on everyone in animal agriculture and beyond," said Karen Christensen, extension poultry specialist and associate professor in Poultry Science in the Bumpers College. Since the retirement of Yvonne Thaxton as center director, Christensen is hosting the symposium this year.

Speakers include:

• Kate Barger, director of world animal welfare for Cobb-Vantress;
• Yi Liang, associate professor, extension, Biological and Agricultural Engineering in the U of A College of Engineering;
• Jason McAllister, director of animal welfare for Triumph Foods;
• Jeff Carroll, research leader for the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Livestock Issues Research Unit;
• Hongwei Xin, director of the Egg Industry Center, Iowa State University;
• Yvonne Thaxton, emeritus director, Center of Food Animal Wellbeing, U of A;
• Emily McCormack, animal curator and internship director for Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge;
• Stacy Mason, senior breeder field representative for the American Kennel Club;
• Kimberly J. Murphy, IACUC research compliance analyst for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; and
• Elizabeth Rumley, senior staff attorney for the National Agricultural Law Center, U of A.

The goal for the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing is to improve animal health, animal handling, food safety and productivity by developing and defining objective measurements of wellbeing including measures of behavior, stress physiology, neurophysiology, immunology, microbiology and production efficiency.

Program information is online at Food Animal Wellbing Annual Symposium.

About the U of A System Division of Agriculture: The U of A System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system.   The Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. 

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.