Animal welfare initiative awards animal welfare innovation prize
The pig buzzer, a geothermal stall and a stall system for animal welfare from sow husbandry to fattening - the Animal Welfare Initiative (ITW) today awarded three farmers the Animal Welfare Innovation Prize for these projects. All three farmers are pig farmers and come from Lower Saxony. The ITW awards the Animal Welfare Innovation Prize every year for outstanding achievements that effectively raise the level of animal welfare in the stables in an innovative way.
Christoph Becker received the first prize of 10.000 euros for his “Schweinebuzzer”. In his fattening barn, the animals can use a special device to activate a mushroom button with a species-typical rooting movement of the snout, which triggers a pig shower. Christoph Becker took third place in the Animal Welfare Innovation Award last year. This year's second prize, worth 7.000 euros, went to Tim Friedrichs, who regulates the climate in his fattening stable with the help of a geothermal heat exchanger. With this self-constructed solution, he combines environmental protection, economy and animal welfare. The third prize was endowed with 5.000 euros. Kerstin and Torsten Deye received it for the conversion of their barn system, which includes animal welfare aspects from sow husbandry to piglet rearing and fattening. The system includes, among other things, an animal-friendly mating center for the sows, an active area for piglets and an outdoor climate area with straw for fattening.
"We are delighted and deeply impressed by the inventive spirit and doer mentality of our award winners," said Dr. Alexander Hinrichs, Managing Director of the Animal Welfare Initiative. “Farmers who are as committed to animal welfare as the award winners can inspire and motivate. With the Animal Welfare Innovation Award, we want to help farmers stay motivated to support animal welfare and the public to learn a little more about this commitment.”
The award ceremony took place as part of a hybrid small event in compliance with the safety and hygiene regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Jörg Thadeusz moderated a small round of talks. Barbara Otte-Kinast, Minister of Agriculture of the State of Lower Saxony, praised the award winners in a welcoming speech. The laudations were given by Prof. Dr. Lars Schrader (Friedrich Loeffler Institute), Prof. Dr. Folkhard Isermeyer (Thünen Institute) and Prof. Dr. Harald Grethe (Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute). Video recordings of the laudations, information on the award winners and their projects can be found at www.initiative-tierwohl.de or on https://initiative-tierwohl.de/innovationspreis-2020-die-gewinner/.
About the ITW
With the Animal Welfare Initiative (ITW) launched in 2015, the partners from agriculture, the meat industry, the food trade and gastronomy are committed to their shared responsibility for animal husbandry, animal health and animal welfare in livestock farming. The animal welfare initiative supports farmers financially in implementing measures for the welfare of their livestock that go beyond the legal standards. The implementation of these measures is controlled across the board by the animal welfare initiative. The product seal of the Animal Welfare Initiative only identifies products that come from animals from participating farms of the Animal Welfare Initiative. The Animal Welfare Initiative is gradually establishing more animal welfare on a broad scale and is continuously being further developed.
