Bayer Animal Health has launched a global ‘Care4Pigs’ grant initiative which aims to ‘help the industry turn innovative ideas for advancing pig wellbeing into a reality’.
In collaboration with the Farm Animal Welfare Education Centre (FAWEC) and the Korean Association of Swine Veterinarians (KASV), the Care4Pigs initiative is offering three candidates the chance of receiving €10,000 each to support innovative projects aimed at enhancing pig wellbeing.
The grant is looking to fund three projects that will forward innovations and advancements that benefit the animals, and ultimately benefit the farm productivity. Submissions for the Care4Pigs grant will be welcomed from farmers and farm staff, practicing vets, as well as researchers and graduate students in veterinary medicine, agricultural or animal sciences.
Submitted projects need to ‘demonstrate innovative, practice-oriented ways to improve pig wellbeing at farm level’. Projects must also be either already underway or planned to start by early 2021.
Grant applications must be submitted by 30 June 2020 at www.Care4Pigs.com and should include a completed submission form and project proposal, highlighting clear clear objectives for the project and logistical details, including the proposed utilisation of the grant, or milestones/results of an already ongoing project.
Entries will be judged by a panel of independent animal well-being experts from academia, alongside representatives of the Farm Animal Welfare Education Centre (FAWEC) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Korean Association of Swine Veterinarians (KASV) and Bayer Animal Health, based on their: Innovative approach, impact on pig wellbeing, their on-farm practicality, their applicability through different systems and productions conditions, and their added value to farming operations.
Almut Hoffmann, head of farm animal products marketing at Bayer Animal Health, says that livestock professionals are creative innovators who work to overcome various challenges to keep animals healthy and well cared for.
Hoffman said: “We see remarkable and forward thinking work on pig operations around the globe and we’re pleased to extend our support and collaborative knowledge through Care4Pigs to further benefit pig wellbeing.”
Octavio Orlovsky Eckhardt, head of swine species marketing at Bayer Animal Health, adds that the Care4Pigs judging panel will be looking for submissions that demonstrate an innovative approach and measurable benefit on pig wellbeing.
He said: “Each project’s on-farm practicality and applicability through different systems and production conditions will also be considered during the judging process, as well as its economic viability,” he says.
