If you really want to know how others see your barn, take some pictures, take them back to your desk and look at what’s in front of you, says an agricultural management specialist.

And, if you see something that doesn’t make you proud, make some changes, says an Alberta producer.

Consultant Geraldine Auston from Ag & Food Exchange and Martin Bowman, director of production for Verus Swine Management, each stood before Alberta producers and farm workers in recent weeks to present the case for continual improvement in animal care and handling.

It’s not about making activists go away, Auston said in her presentation to Alberta Pork’s 2016 AGM in Calgary. It’s about earning and keeping the trust of those who are or could be your customers.

“When people are opposed to us, it challenges us to do better. There are a lot of things we can do.” Animal welfare describes the producers’ responsibility to take good care of the animals on their farms, where animal rights activists believe all animals have the same rights as humans, she said. That puts farmers under intense pressure to prove that they’re doing the right thing.

“Do the right thing, always, in everything you do. If you ever have to say to yourself, ‘Wow, if this were being videoed, we’d be in trouble,’ promptly give your head a shake. Stop what you’re doing and figure out something else.” One of the most effective ways to test yourself is to take pictures in your own barn, said Auston. Those images or videos will show the things that you may have overlooked in person, when there are other distractions around you.

“It’s just one small piece you can do, and it doesn’t cost you a thing.”

Auston also called on producers to be honest with themselves about their farms and their animal husbandry practices and to take steps to ensure that the people they hire are on board as well.

“Hiring the right people for the right jobs is really important.” Training and continual retraining is vital, as is enforcement of protocols. Each farm should have an animal welfare agreement that all workers must read, understand and sign, she said.

Canada’s updated Code of Practice for pigs is a must-have for all swine producers as well as a way to prove that the industry upholds high standards for animal care, said Auston.

It is imperative that each farm follow the requirements and the recommendations written within the code, created with the input of people from across the spectrum of values and ideals.

“When something is wrong, fix it. Don’t pretend it’s not there,” said Auston.

Bowman offered a similar message in his presentation to the Red Deer Swine Technology workshop two weeks earlier, on Oct. 19.

He said that, when he was asked to give a talk on social license, he did not know what the term really meant.

“It took me a lot of digging on Internet, on Google, to find out what actually meant . . . and so to find some meaning to how it affects me and what I do,” said Bowman.

He answered his question with a slide, credited to Wikipedia, describing social license as “a local community’s acceptance or approval of a company’s project or ongoing presence in an area. It is increasingly recognized by various stakeholders and communities as a prerequisite to development and to doing business.”

He then described the slow process of building and maintaining public trust which, as demonstrated by the Earls restaurant crisis earlier this year, can be lost “in a heartbeat.”

Taking a tighter focus on farming practices, Bowman stated that the animals that move to and from the farm, dead or alive, directly reflect the producer’s care, compassion, welfare and stockmanship.

He described for the people in the room his view of his responsibilities as a pork producer and business leader, with the words of his own boss from 40 years earlier permanently etched on his psyche.

He recalled a day when the farmer silently watched as he attempted to load some uncooperative gilts, yelling at the animals and getting frustrated with them until the farmer approached and showed him what to do. It was a simple matter of spreading some straw on the trailer floor so the pigs would feel comfortable there.

“What he did say to me became a compass in my life, that I have always thought about: ‘Whenever you’re doing a job, moving pigs, handling them, or doing anything in life in general, do it as if you have a loved one stood behind you, watching you. Ask yourself, would they be proud of what you’re doing?’’

Bowman, an Alberta Pork director for the past four years, said those words remain with him as he reflects on his responsibilities to himself, his family, parents, co-workers, employees, their families, the company’s shareholder, fellow producers, packers, supermarkets and consumers, whoever they may be.

“I represent the industry and I represent you, and I don’t want to be stood here, talking to you about how good things should be, if I’ve screwed up or I made the wrong decision in the business,” he said.

Livestock producers, to earn and maintain their social license, should ensure that they continue to do to the right things and, of equal importance, that their actions are visible to the people who consume the products made from the pigs they raise, he said. •

— By Brenda Kossowan