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Animal Welfare - Version 1

Rivalea commits to "Care for every pig, every day"

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We are committed to the respectful and humane treatment of all the animals in our care throughout their life.


Our people are the single biggest contributors to the delivery of quality animal welfare. The Model Code of Practice for Welfare of Animals – Pigs 2007 (Primary Industries Ministerial Council), states: "The basic requirement for the welfare of pigs is a husbandry system that is managed by trained and skilled stock-people."


 
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Our focus on animal welfare means that we demand of ourselves strong internal standards of training, awareness and application of animal welfare priorities. Our Animal Welfare practices are based on the Model Code of Practice, sound scientific research, quality staff training and the extensive experience of our people.


Our livestock management is regularly audited through the Australian Pork Industry Quality (APIQ) program.


The following sections are a summary of Rivalea's firm commitment to Animal Welfare.

Download a PDF file of the Rivalea Welfare Standards PDF

Training & skills

Our people are the single biggest contributors to the delivery of quality animal welfare.

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Our focus on animal welfare means that we demand of ourselves strong internal standards of training, awareness and application of animal welfare priorities.


All Rivalea stock people are qualified at Certificate III level, (Pork Production) usually within their first two years of full time employment. There are specific units of competency relating to animal health and welfare embedded within the Certificate III qualification. Stockpeople are also encouraged to undertake Certificate IV and the Diploma of Agriculture.

 
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Many of our Supervisory staff hold tertiary qualifications and undertake leadership and other vocational courses. A clear focus of our on-the-job training is on positive animal handling methods.


Staff training in Animal Welfare is complemented by ongoing instruction and guidance by Rivalea’s specialist pig Veterinarians and our Animal Welfare Scientist and Programs Manager

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Recognising excellent animal welfare


Our Animal Welfare Awards recognise those stockpeople who strive to deliver high standards of welfare and are committed to continuous improvement in this area. We showcase the achievements of these individuals by announcing an annual Animal Welfare Champion.

 

Caring for every animal

We monitor all of our pigs health and wellbeing daily.

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We provide for animal needs by ensuring each pig has:

  • Protection from and treatment of disease and injury.
  • Readily accessible, appropriate and sufficient food and water.
  • Adequate shelter and protection.
  • Visual and social contact with other pigs.
  • Opportunity to display appropriate patterns of behaviour.
  • Freedom for necessary movement.
  • Humane handling.
 
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Animals identified as requiring extra care are treated according to Veterinary guidelines and are placed in specialised animal recovery programs.


Rivalea only utilise husbandry procedures that are critical to the welfare of the pig. Husbandry tasks are performed by competent stock people for the purpose of ensuring optimum welfare outcomes.

Housing systems

Rivalea prides itself on three main housing systems:

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Indoor housing: Pigs are raised in environmentally managed sheds in group housing.

Ecoshelter deep-litter, group housing: Pigs are raised in large groups on deep-litter systems with the flooring typically deep bedding of straw or rice hulls. More than 65% of our pigs of our pigs are reared in Ecoshelter, deep-litter, group housing systems.

Free Range: Rivalea have two outdoor, rotational, free range farms.

 
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Rivalea is gestation stall free. Our pregnant sows are housed indoors and have been housed in social groups since 2012. This ensures that sows are able to move freely and are able to perform natural social behaviours. There are a range of feeding systems floor feeding, shoulder feeding bays and Electronic Sow feeders (ESF).

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A number of our farms move sows directly into group pens when their piglets are weaned and sows are artificially inseminated in specialised mating stations at the appropriate time. On other farms sows are housed in specialised mating stations after weaning which allow for the individual care of sows in the post-weaning period.

 

Research & innovation

Our Animal Welfare Program Manager oversees research and commercial implementation of our animal welfare strategies.

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  • We continually invest resources and people in researching, developing and implementing improved welfare practices.
  • We are amongst the largest private investors in Australia in research directed towards enhanced animal welfare systems.
  • We led the Australian Pork industry in the voluntary removal of pregnant sow stalls.
  • We are investing significant resources to identifying and developing alternatives to traditional farrowing housing.
  • We initiated the concept of ecoshelter, deep-litter group housing for progeny and continue to develop improvements.
  • We have established two outdoor, rotational, free range farms. We are developing our management practices to optimise pig welfare in these systems.
  • We continually undertake long-term collaborative research projects with Australian Pork Limited, the Pork CRC, the Animal Welfare Science Centre and a number of international welfare research institutions.

Humane Processing

Rivalea is accredited under the Australian Livestock Processing Industry Animal Welfare Certification System (AAWCS).

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The AAWCS covers all animal welfare activities from receival of pigs to the point of humane processing. Our staff are trained in, and have certified skills in animal handling and welfare. We are participating in an external research that is focused on humane stunning of pigs.