{"id":27095,"date":"2018-08-08T07:34:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T14:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/?page_id=27095"},"modified":"2024-02-15T11:09:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T14:09:42","slug":"our-practices","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/sustainability\/animal-welfare\/our-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The concept “unique welfare” emphasizes the link between animal welfare, human welfare and the environment. It is based on and complements the development of the concept “one world, one health” to achieve fully comprehensive approaches in support
of global sustainable development and it is in line with the company\u2019s sustainability strategy. BRF believes that without human welfare there is no animal welfare in its entirety, which makes us work increasingly integrated in each stage of our
long chain, which starts with the purchase of grains to the homes of consumers.<\/p>\n

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Besides, in order to adopt the best practices, the company provides ongoing training to managers, technicians, producers, drivers and operators, in addition to improving its production processes, including management, nutrition and health procedures.<\/p>\n

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ACTIVITIES<\/h2>\n
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Animal breeding and health<\/a><\/div>\n
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BRF has its own team of veterinarians, who attend to 100% of the farm animals. This also extends to the medications used, which are purchased and distributed by BRF itself, certifying its origin through audits and accreditations with official
authorities.<\/p>\n

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Our animals are not genetically
modified and do not receive hormones at
any stage in our breeding system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Medicines and vaccinations are solely handled by recommendation of our veterinarians upon onsite visits to assess the clinical condition of the animals, in line with the guidelines internally established by the company and its specialists,
and with legislations and client regulations.<\/p>\n

Contracts between BRF and integrated producers determine that any intervention with the animals bred must be carried out solely by the company, including any treatment, including non-drug treatments. The company also has a network of laboratories
that help identify the causes of problems with the animals, and speeds up decision-making by releasing quick results.<\/p>\n

BRF does not use antibiotics as growth promoters in the breeding of poultry and pigs and seeks continuous process improvement, enabling the gradual reduction of medicines throughout the chain. We firmly believe in the concept of responsible
use of antibiotics so we follow biosecurity and animal welfare procedures that help us maintain the use of antibiotics restricted to minimum levels.<\/p>\n

Since mid-2018, 100% of our breeding activities has been free of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP-Free). Only antibiotics for therapeutic treatments are used, that is, only when the animals have any symptoms of diseases. When this is necessary,
medication is prescribed by a veterinarian from BRF. The waiting period for each active ingredient is strictly followed. BRF personnel take the products to our integrated partners and teach them how to use.<\/p>\n

The company has an internal policy on the use of antibiotics in the poultry chain on a global scale. The policy has been developed by veterinarians specializing in animal health for agricultural purposes. This document describes the general
guidelines on antibiotics and how the company has been addressing this issue. Besides, BRF has reduced the use of antibiotics considered by the World Health Organization (WHO)<\/a> to be critical for use
in human medicine. All antibiotics considered to be highly critical and important for human health by the WHO (HPCIA \u2014 Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials) are not used in the poultry chain in Brazil. We are working
to reduce the use of these active ingredients in the pig breeding chain and to withdraw them from poultry production in Turkey. As an alternative to antibiotics, vaccines, prebiotics and probiotics are used in animal food. All of these
improvements would not have been possible if we did not follow animal welfare guidelines. Animals under welfare experience fewer periods of stress, which helps to keep their immune system strengthened to fight pathogens. We are in
the process of making and publishing a policy for the use of antibiotics in the pig breeding chain, to be released in 2020.<\/p>\n

With the objective of making progress in welfare initiatives, we have part of our production working with ongoing environmental enrichment practices. Protocols have been developed and different tools are under use to find out mechanisms
to encourage the natural behavior of our animals, helping to reduce stress and improve health conditions, such as:<\/p>\n

\u2022 For the pig breeding chain, the use of chains, ropes and straw has been gradually implemented in the breeding environments;
\u2022 In-house considerations for the incorporation of perches, bales of wood shavings and other pecking tools
are present in many parent stock, turkey and broiler breeding farms. The farmers have emergency plans as their top properties to help them decide what to do in case of accidents, in order to avoid pain and suffering to the birds. Also,
minimum stocks of water and quality feed are guaranteed. For water, the stock is sufficient for 24 hours and, for feed, the minimum storage capacity guarantees a day of consumption in the week before slaughter, in 100% of the properties.
By doing this, the company is ensuring that all animal needs are constantly met.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Monitoring<\/a><\/div>\n
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BRF has specific indicators that evaluate the performance of farms and slaughter procedures, including animal welfare indicators in each of the production stages, which are constantly improving. There is an ongoing control of animal mortality
rate and weight gain, animal density in the farms (quantity or live weight of animals per square meter in a facility), diseases, average animal transport time and the pre-slaughter stunning processes, where the company takes corrective
action when necessary.<\/p>\n

A check list<\/em> that includes animal welfare indicators, such as gait score<\/em>, animal injury and cleanliness, is applied to 100% of company-owned farms and integrated farms in Brazil. It is a reference for our internal checks
and development of specific action plans.<\/p>\n

Our Corporate Committee for Livestock Transport tracks farm animal transport indexes. In countries where we have agricultural production, transport time is still a major challenge, given the territorial dimensions of each location (like
Brazil, for example). In order to mitigate stress during transport, we have the commitment established in the internal corporate guidelines that define the maximum recommended animal transport duration. The trucks are equipped with
trackers for pre-determined speed and route control and drivers are periodically trained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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treinamentos e capacita\u00e7\u00e3o<\/a><\/div>\n
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We constantly provide employee training on animal welfare, such as:<\/p>\n

\u2022 In 2019, 311 employees were trained on animal welfare. Personnel from parent stock breeding, through transport and slaughter. Some of them were trained in the Humane Slaughter Program (STEPS), recognized by Brazil\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture<\/a>, Livestock and Supply. In 2019, training in the agricultural chain was resumed. These professionals, called Animal Welfare Officers, are responsible for training all employees, third parties and integrated producers. 100% of the employees working with live animals in our plants are trained on animal welfare procedures.<\/p>\n

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\u2022 100% of our chicken and turkey breeders and farming advisors are trained on winter and summer management, in which animal welfare is strongly addressed;<\/p>\n

\u2022 One hundred percent of catching teams and drivers are trained on the best practices to ensure the welfare of birds on loading at the farms and transport;<\/p>\n

\u2022 In 2019, over 200 BRF veterinarians and farming advisors were trained in the Swine Academy program, from history and concept to practical application and action plan in transport, facilities, contingency, and others. This training program for farming advisors aims to train and develop the agricultural team in pursuit of high performance, adding value to the business and managing internal knowledge. The training project is ongoing and will take place again in 2020;<\/p>\n

\u2022 We attended the Pig Welfare Symposium with the WAP, where success animal welfare cases were shown.<\/p>\n

\u2022 BRF has two training programs for the continued education of leaders, technicians and broiler farming advisors on a range of topics, including animal welfare. The programs are: Chicken Academy and Professional School of Poultry Farming. In 2019, these two events brought together more than 300 employees from all units in Brazil, including managers, supervisors, health workers, ambience\/catching coordinators and farming advisors. The results of these meetings for discussions and local training of field teams included a broader view of the production process in the themes of Health, Hatcheries, Parent Stock and Broiler Chickens. To encourage and raise the awareness of our employees on animal welfare, we created an online course on Animal Welfare and the Program Animal Welfare Made in BRF. This course presents the basic animal welfare concepts and the context of BRF. It is available to any employee with access to the BRF Academy (a platform on which internal training is offered). By April 2020, more than 1,050 employees had completed the course and over 400 had started it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

BRF has been working towards the ongoing standardization of its processes created the SEO (Operational Excellence System) Program, which promotes the engagement of teams, encouraging them to take leading roles and ownership. In the program, the fundamental themes for BRF are divided into pillars and one of them is Sustainability. Animal welfare is a mandatory element of this pillar, aligning the training taught by the animal welfare officers. The purposes of the SEO program include:<\/p>\n

a) Creating a unique language and standardizing the working method as a basis for continuous improvement;<\/p>\n

b) Standardizing processes, terms and metrics, allowing effective internal references;<\/p>\n

c) Standardization as a basis for continuous improvement, by sharing and applying best practices;<\/p>\n

d) Directing performance towards leveraging the main results, connecting them to the strategic objectives of BRF;<\/p>\n

e) Boosting engagement and collaboration, from the operations to the top management;<\/p>\n

f) Ensuring that everyone is able to do their best;<\/p>\n

g) Being a facilitator of cultural change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

DISCOVER SOME SPECIES-SPECIFIC PRACTICES:<\/h2>\n
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\"\" Poultry <\/a><\/div>\n
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BRF, considering its principles of offering welfare conditions to its farm animals, works with appropriate densities for different species and categories, which are even lower than the strictest international standards. This ensures that all birds have space to move freely and exercise natural behavior, such as scratching, taking sand baths, dusting off and flapping their wings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For example, 48% of its breeding, consisting of light birds, the density is less than 32 kg\/m\u00b2. Of the 21 broiler chicken units that BRF operates in Brazil, 9 work with final densities smaller than 30 kg\/m\u00b2, that is, more than 40% of the units, which represented, in the first half of 2019, about 50% of the birds slaughtered.<\/p>\n

All birds have continuous access to water with sufficient quality and quantity for optimal development, and 100% of the farms have hydrometers by which water consumption is monitored. Records are kept and, in case of anomalies, those are daily remedied. Water quality is continuously monitored by measuring chlorination<\/a> and constant flushing (water renewal), which also help maintain the optimal temperature.
Comfort and environmental enrichment are basic principles of our poultry breeding environment. For this, we use good quality poultry litter, which is about 15-cm deep for turkeys and 10-cm deep for chickens. Litter is constantly handled so that it is always smooth and dry. Whenever necessary, the litter is renewed for thermal comfort and natural poultry behavior. Every bed (made up of shavings and\/or rice husks) comes from an approved supplier, ensuring controlled quality, free of contaminants.
To maintain the thermal comfort conditions, heaters and\/or fans and\/or exhaust fans and evaporative panels and\/or nebulizers are provided in the breeding environment. The maximum and minimum facility temperature and humidity are recorded daily for controlling and maintaining the established standards.<\/p>\n

We are also aware of how important it is to provided good lighting management. Therefore, we respect the minimum of 8 hours of light a day and 4 hours of darkness, following the day\/night rhythm and the appropriate light intensity for each phase in each breeding system.<\/p>\n

The animal pre-slaughter process follows specific internal laws and regulations. The company also meets cultural and religious requirements (such as the Halal slaughter guidelines), as well as market and client-specific guidelines, and certifications \u2014 which are often even stricter to the legislation in force. For the Halal market, poultry is stunned before slaughter and are slaughtered by certifiers that attest to the conformity of poultry slaughter. Although the birds are stunned (that is, they are not conscious at the time of bleeding), they must be alive at the time of bleeding. Specifically for Saudi Arabia, poultry cannot be stunned before slaughter. In order to minimize the effects of religious slaughter, we use electrical stimulation after bleeding for the rapid loss of consciousness in these animals. In 2019, about 14.8% of the birds slaughtered in Brazil were sent to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

In 2019, infrared was implemented in 100% of turkey breeding, as well as in broiler parent stock, for beak trimming, replacing the traditional cutting and cauterization system. Only 1\/3 of the beak is trimmed and this is done only once in the animal\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

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POULTRY FARMING<\/h3>\n

More than 40% of the broiler facilities are conventional poultry houses, which operate with open curtains, making the most of the natural environment, using natural daylight. The other facilities operate with controlled environment systems, which save birds from extreme temperature variations, for example.
Poultry is transported according to the guidelines of the Corporate Committee for Livestock Transport.
As an innovative and unique process in Brazil, in Marau\/RS, pre-slaughter stunning with gas has been implemented, which further reaffirms our commitment to humane slaughter.
Marau\/RS and Serafina Corr\u00eaa\/RS are equipped with closed-circuit television (CCTV) for ongoing livestock monitoring.<\/p>\n

All broilers are free to move within the facility. This, associated with good conditions of ambiance, bed quality and food quality, promotes natural animal behavior, such as flapping wings, walking freely and bathing in substrate. More than 6 million broilers a year have access to environmental enrichment, such as the use of bales of wood shavings and pecking objects.<\/p>\n

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TURKEY FARMING<\/h3>\n

About 50% of the turkey breeding takes place in conventional poultry systems, which are facilities equipped with open curtains, making the most of the natural environmental conditions. The other facilities operate with a different controlled environment system, which allows greater control over extreme environmental variables, such as temperature and humidity, while allowing natural light to enter through the curtains. This ensures that 100% of the turkeys be bred with natural lighting.<\/p>\n

Turkeys are transported according to the guidelines of the Corporate Committee for Livestock Transport<\/strong>.
Animal pre-slaughter follows the principles of animal welfare, in line with legislations, specific internal rules and guidelines of markets and clients, which are often stricter than the applicable laws. Besides, 100% of turkeys are stunned before slaughter.<\/p>\n

About 43.3% of the properties that work with turkeys also use environmental enrichment, especially pecking objects, with plans of expansion in the coming years. No turkey at Global BRF is confined in cages. All of them have freedom of movement within the facility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\" PIG FARMING <\/a><\/div>\n
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Although it is not yet a statutory obligation in the countries in which it operates with pig breeding, in 2012, BRF pledged to adopt a group housing system for pregnant sows on all production expansion projects and, in 2014, it started to adjust the existing integration system. Implementation is going slowly (further in Our Commitments<\/a>).<\/p>\n

One of the principles of BRF is the adoption of practices that contribute to the sanitary freedom of animals to make sure they are free of pain, injuries and diseases. BRF\u2019s practices include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 No tooth-clipping or grinding on piglets;
\u2022 99% of castration performed through immunocastration (non-surgical, non-invasive technique using vaccines without side effects). Surgical castration is performed for a small group of animals (around 1% of males born) intended for of a specific product range. The procedure is carried out until the animal\u2019s seventh day of life.<\/p>\n

Ear notching has been replaced by tattooing and identification earrings for animal tracking (identification of the farm of origin). In 2020, 100% of piglets born in BRF will be identified with tattoos or earrings.
As for tail cutting, it is done in 100% of the pigs. 2\/3 of the tail length is removed by the third day of the animal\u2019s life due to the smaller amount of pain receptors. This is still necessary to ensure pig welfare.
In addition to the procedures mentioned above, no other physical changes are made to the animals.<\/p>\n

The pigs are transported according to the guidelines of the Corporate Committee for Livestock Transport<\/strong> of BRF.
Animal pre-slaughter follows the principles of animal welfare, in line with legislations, specific internal rules and guidelines of markets and clients, which are often stricter than the applicable laws. Besides, 100% of the animals are stunned before slaughter. Pigs are housed in resting crates, with access to water and temperature monitoring. 100% of the animals are examined upon receipt at the plant and are managed by personnel trained on animal welfare.
90% of BRF\u2019s farms have used some type of environmental enrichment for pigs in at least one crate. The most used materials are: metal chains (69.33%), plastic gallons (44.48%) and pieces of wood (26.12%). Fattening pigs are left free in the crates with access to water and food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For more information, access BRF’s Annual and Sustainability Report.<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get to know all the global actions we take to fulfill the commitment to guarantee animal welfare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":27061,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-pages\/template-nossas-praticas.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-27095","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27095"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33575,"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27095\/revisions\/33575"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brf-global.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=27095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}