Welfaruminant Project | Dissemination of Animal Welfare practices in farmed ruminants.

“2021-1-TR01-KA220-VET-000025255” numbered WELFARUMINANT "Dissemination Of Animal Welfare Practices In Farmed Ruminants" project which was accepted within the scope of the Turkish National Agency's 2021 Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships in Vocational Education (KA220-VET) Projects and coordinated by Prof Dr Özkan ELMAZ from Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Animal Science held it’s First Transnational Project Meeting and Opening Meeting on 30-31 May 2022 with participants from Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur Agriculture and Forestry Provincial Directorate and Burdur Chamber of Veterinarians, Milan University from Italy and University of Lisbon from Portugal

Project coordinator Prof. Dr. Özkan Elmaz In his statement, said, “The project received a grant support of 242,089.00 Euros and it is aimed to establish animal welfare protocols in dairy cattle, beef cattle, calves, sheep and goats breeding and to transfer them to breeders by Veterinarians and Agricultural Engineers. The project will last for 2 years and meetings will be held in Turkey, Portugal and Italy with the participation of Veterinarians and Agricultural Engineers.

In order to make animal production based on animal welfare in the world, many scientific studies and protocol development studies are carried out, especially in European Union member countries. There are problems in the use of this information in the practices of farmers and in the transfer of information. Based on international scientific data on animal welfare, this project team aims to transfer this information to farmers through veterinarians and other technical personnel.

The knowledge and experience of the project partners on animal welfare in sheep, goat and cattle breeding will positively affect the success of the project. First, it is expected that the most innovative animal welfare information obtained in Europe in the form of best practices and on-farm assessment protocols will be passed on to farmers. In addition, the role of veterinarians and industry technical staff in supporting farmers will be further enhanced. The widespread impact of animal welfare issues on veterinarians and other professional organizations will be ensured through strong dialogue between partners, international seminars and meetings throughout the project.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The project will include many initiatives that will transfer some of the good animal welfare practices developed within the European Union to cattle and sheep breeders.
Farmers, veterinarians, agricultural engineers and other technical personnel will learn how to evaluate the welfare of their animals.
Assist in training and providing technical information to inspectors and public officials so that they can carry out official checks on livestock welfare assessment.
It will help develop an innovative educational curriculum for the “Animal Welfare” course in veterinary medicine and agricultural engineering in Turkey.
Farmers and technical personnel from partner countries will be able to exchange experience and knowledge at various planned meetings.
Leading the certification of farms and products in response to increasing consumer demand.

PROJECT APPLICATION

The project will be carried out with 5 partners from 3 different countries. All activities will be coordinated between partners with 4 Transnational Project Meetings and 3 Short Term Learning / Teaching / Training Events. The first of these trainings will be held in Portugal, the second in Italy and the third in Turkey.

The purpose of these trainings is to ensure that animal welfare practices, supported by European Union member organizations and developed through scientific studies, adopt innovative approaches for vocational training and reflect these methods on professional skills.
After these trainings, the professional competencies, knowledge and skills of the participants will increase. In addition, this project will provide participants with the opportunity to use these new learning methods by seeing good practices in different institutions and organizations as well as breeders and shepherds.
Within the scope of the project, education and information flow will be provided between researchers, veterinarians, breeders and shepherds, contributing to the economic benefits of animal welfare practices and safe food production. Dissemination of best agricultural practices and guidelines for welfare assessment will also be achieved through the preparation of special handbooks and the production of interactive e-Learning material.
Thanks to the project, it will ensure that the welfare standards of European Union member countries and candidate countries are applied at the same level. At the end of the project, three seminars (Portugal, Italy and Turkey) will be held to disseminate information about the project results.

EXPECTED RESULTS FROM THE PROJECT

Creating Innovative Education Curriculum
Internet Based E-Learning Module
Development of Welfare Assessment Manual for Sheep-Goats
Development of Welfare Assessment Manual for Dairy Cattle
Development of Welfare Assessment Manual for Beef Cattle
Care and Welfare Handbook for Calves

WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT, SHORT-TERM (5 DAYS) LEARNING/TEACHING/TRAINING ACTIVITIES WILL BE HELD IN 3 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.

1. EVALUATION OF GOOD PRACTICES AND WEALTH IN SMALL FARMERS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
FIRST TRAINING MEETING PLACE: ITALY / MILAN: Universita Degli Studi Di Milano, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DiSAA)

2. EVALUATION OF GOOD PRACTICES AND WELLNESS IN SMALL FARMERS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
SECOND TRAINING MEETING PLACE: PORTUGAL / LISBON: Universidade Tecnica De Lisboa, Faculdade De Medicina Veterinaria

3. Flock MANAGEMENT AND CERTIFICATION
THIRD EDUCATION MEETING PLACE: TURKEY / BURDUR: Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Science