Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing to Host Poultry Welfare Symposium Oct. 12

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The Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing will host its eighth annual symposium on Oct. 12 in a hybrid format, with speakers focusing on poultry welfare and what the industry is doing to increase knowledge in this area.

There is no cost to attend either in person or online. The Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization, PAACO, will be offering seven continuing education credits for those in attendance.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The in-person event will be held at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences,1371 W. Altheimer Dr. in Fayetteville, and lunch will be provided.

Registration is available online.

"In a state that is one of the nation's largest producers of broilers and turkeys, poultry health and welfare are top of mind for us," said Shawna Weimer, director of the Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, part of the U of A System Division of Agriculture. "Our speakers are bringing a broad set of perspectives on this issue, and no matter how long we've been in this field, there's always something we can learn from our colleagues."

The agenda:

• 9 a.m. — Welcome — David Caldwell, director of Center for Excellence of Poultry Science and Weimer.
• 9:15 a.m. — "Thinking Outside of the Box to Tackle Poultry Welfare: A Nutritional Immunologist's Perspective"— Elizabeth Bobeck, associate professor at Iowa State University.
• 10 a.m. — "Enriching the Environment for Broilers"— Leonie Jacobs, assistant professor at Virginia Tech.
• 11 a.m. — "Birds Flying High: Cage-free Houses and Skeletal Welfare of Laying Hens" — Prafulla Regmi, assistant professor at the University of Georgia.
• 11:45 a.m. — Lunch
• 12:45 p.m. — "Poultry Welfare Adulting: Where, What, How" — Amelia Woods, poultry welfare manager, PAACO.
• 1:45 p.m. — "Current Issues in Turkey Welfare" — Brian Wooming, DVM, Cargill veterinarian.
• 2:45 p.m. — "Communication, Culture, and the Five Domains" — Dallas Wynn, senior manager of animal welfare for Tyson Foods.
• 3:30 p.m. — Poultry Welfare and the Building of Customer Relationships - Whitny Haley, Director of Animal Welfare for Simmons Foods.
• 4:15 p.m. Closing remarks — Weimer.

To learn more about the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, visit https://foodanimalwellbeing.uada.edu/.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

About the Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing: The University of Arkansas has a deep-rooted relationship with the food animal industry in the areas of outreach and applied research. The Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing (CFAW) team works closely with three units within the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture: the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, the Department of Animal Science, and the National Agricultural Law Center. The CFAW goal is to improve animal health, handling, and productivity through husbandry practices that optimize animal welfare.