AVC Chair in Animal Welfare Dr. Michael Cockram co-edits new book with Dr. Temple Grandin
Dr. Michael Cockram, Chair in Animal Welfare at AVC, has co-edited a book titled The Slaughter of Farmed Animals: Practical ways of enhancing animal welfare, with Dr. Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University and renowned advocate for animal welfare.
Published by CABI, the book provides evidence-based scientific studies and practical guidance to enhance the welfare of cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry at slaughter. It contains three chapters written by Dr. Cockram on welfare issues at slaughter, condition of animals on arrival at the abattoir and their management during lairage, and approaches to legislation and enforcement to minimize welfare issues at slaughter, and a joint chapter with Dr. Grandin on the use of abattoir data to provide information on the welfare of livestock on the farm and during transport. There are nine other chapters written by Dr. Grandin, and five chapters written by other international experts.
A professor in AVC’s Department of Health Management, Dr. Cockram has published research on the transport and handling of livestock and poultry, and other animal welfare issues. His previous book chapters have been on the welfare implications of health and disease, sheep transport (contributions to the 3rd, 4th and 5th editions of Dr. Grandin’s book, Livestock Handling and Transport), and the effects of handling, transportation, lairage and slaughter on cattle welfare and beef quality. He is currently working on three new writing commissions. Dr. Cockram has participated in the development of four NFACC animal welfare codes of practice. He serves as the welfare and behaviour section editor for Animal: An international journal of animal bioscience. He organized the 2018 International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, and he is currently the chair of the Large Animal Subcommittee of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, Animal Welfare Committee.
