The Beef Beat

By Angela Rouillard, Senior Policy Advisor angela@ontariobeef.com • www.ontariobeef.com

A Recap on New Regulations

There have been a lot of fun and fascinating files on my plate these past few months. With a background in animal science and advanced training in research and animal welfare, it made perfect sense to welcome me to the BFO team with a friendly handshake, a delicious beef-filled lunch, and a pile of files dealing with the new animal protection legislation, transport regulation amendments and the BFO research program. I’ll walk you through my first few months with the BFO team.

Animal Welfare

As our members know, the Ontario SPCA pulled back from animal welfare enforcement activities as of March 31, 2019. This left the province and the Ontario Provincial Police (who were then assigned to handle these investigations and complaints) scrambling and caused a stir, with perhaps a little anxiety, among the livestock industry. Thankfully, the province was keen to work with producers and commodity organizations on drafting new animal protection legislation that would be appropriate for pets, exotic animals and livestock. There were a number of consultations with the Ministry of the Solicitor General, and the majority of livestock commodity organizations in Ontario submitted comments and draft legislation as one group (spearheaded by Farm & Food Care Ontario). We were pleased to see the introduction of the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act (affectionately referred to as PAWS) in October 2019. Overall, the act was fairly robust and reasonable, incorporating strong penalties for animal cruelty, providing public accountability to the animal protection system, and ensuring that livestock specialists are among the newly hired and trained animal welfare inspectors. However, there were a few sections that were cause for concern. Consequently, we submitted a number of comments and requests to the Ontario government, as did most of our commodity and general farm organization colleagues. Unfortunately, these concerns fell on deaf ears and we saw very few changes made to the original draft. The bill received royal assent in December and was implemented January 1, 2020.

Still a little worried about how this is going to roll out? Me too. I do believe that there is a bright future here, though. The regulations that will accompany the act are in the process of being drafted and BFO will be engaged in that process. If we can entrench some of our comments and requests into the regulations (such as referring to our industry-developed Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle), we will be very happy indeed! Another positive to the

process is that the Solicitor General has expressed an interest and desire to maintain the relationship with commodity organizations and will continue to lean on our animal care advisors to provide help and advice on any beef-related complaints and investigations.

Transportation

Moving on to the transport regulation amendments. We’ve been talking about these for the last few years as the amendments have been in development for more than a decade (yes, you read that right). I have been involved at various stages of the amendment process and in my past roles I even led a transport study with Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein that focused on benchmarking compromised and unfit cattle conditions at abattoirs and auctions in Alberta. Taking on this file has been a delight and together with our counterparts at CCA, we are working on creating materials to help producers easily transition to the amended regulations.

Ever the eternal optimist, I think it is always important to take note of the positives. The Health of Animals Regulations Part XII: Transportation of Animals was first introduced in 1977 and has not been significantly amended since. One cannot deny that, over a period of more than 40 years, we have learned more about humane transportation of livestock than we knew before. It’s not surprising that some changes were proposed to these regulations. Many of the changes are common sense or include things that most, if not all, livestock transporters already do. However, there are a few areas of concern for cattle producers and these need to be seriously considered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) moving forward.

For example, the maximum time in transit has reduced dramatically from 48 hours, with a grace period of 4 hours, to 36 hours with no grace period. Research has shown that, during long-haul transport, more than 99 per cent of animals arrive in satisfactory condition, causing our industry to question whether this change was necessary. It is also clear that the necessary infrastructure and rest station capacity does not currently exist, particularly along northern routes, making it difficult for transporters to comply. Finally, the need for rest periods following various time in transit is a subject currently under investigation by a team of researchers. Ideally, the results of this study will be taken into consideration and incorporated, where appropriate, into the regulations.

Despite substantial lobbying efforts from BFO, CCA and other commodity organizations, the new transport regulations will still come into effect on February 20, 2020. Minister of Agriculture and

Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced a two-year period of leniency or “soft enforcement” around the time in transit portion of the amended regulations. This period will focus on education, awareness and guidance rather than enforcement. This will also give producers time to adjust travel routes and procedures, researchers time to complete their transport studies and time for entrepreneurs to build or expand rest stations. Other major differences in the amended regulations, such as required paperwork around transfer of care and a new requirement for contingency plans, will come into effect as planned on February 20, 2020. The focus for CFIA inspectors will be on animal welfare outcomes. Transporters will not be asked for contingency plans, proof of training or other information unless there has been a poor animal welfare income (animals arrive injured or dead). This relaxed enforcement period feels like a small win for our producers and we will continue to work with CCA and the CFIA on any changes required in the future.

Research

I am thrilled to take over management of the BFO Research Program. A commitment of $200,000 per year for three years was made in September 2019, and we are off to a running start as research begins early in 2020. The BFO research committee met in October 2019 to set research priorities for this funding, and will focus on the following topics: animal health and welfare, antimicrobial use and resistance, food safety, forages and environmental sustainability. We received 28 letters of intent and have requested full proposals for 12 of these projects. Project selection and funding decisions will be made in March 2020 and I am excited to see this work move forward. I am passionate about supporting the beef industry through upcoming challenges and cheering for our successes. If I can ever be of assistance to our members, don’t hesitate to reach out! OB

“Industry Accepted since 1978”

BULLS & HEIFERS FOR SALE

22ND ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE AND PRIVATE TREATY SALE Saturday, April 4 th , 2020 10:00am to 5:00pm • At the Farm

We are offering an outstanding group of bulls and open and bred females from the limousin industry’s leading sires.