OUR APPROACH OUR APPROACH Arla is a cooperative owned by around 8,000 dairy farmers in Arla has adopted The Five Domains framework (Mellor, 2020) seven European countries, who all produce and supply raw as a base for working with animal welfare related topics. The milk to their cooperative. Animal welfare is a fundamental Five Domains are seen as a more comprehensive and future part of every owner’s business and a key priority for the wider WTHEELFFAIRVEE DOMAINS FRAMEWORK FOR ANIMAL cooperative. proofed ways of working than The Five Freedoms. The Five Domains are: Comfortable Housing, Good Nutrition, Good Health, Appropriate Behaviour and Positive Mental Experience. Figure 1: Overview of The Five Domains Framework (Mellor, 2020) 5 Domains Framework (Mellor, 2020) Impact Comfortable Housing Minimise discomfort and exposure and promote thermal, physical and other comforts. Good nutrition Minimise thirst and hunger and enable eating to be a pleasurable experience. Good health Minimise pain, breathlessness, and other aversive experiences and promote vigour & robustness . Appropriate behaviour Minimise threats and unpleasant restrictions on behaviour and promote engagem en t in rewarding activities. Positive mental experience Promote comfort, pleasure, interest, confidence, and a sense of control. o8rJiunnter,n2a0l2u4se only. Do not share further. Since 2004, our quality assurance programme Arlagården ® has worked to lift the standards of dairy farming in Northern Europe. The requirements set out in Arlagården ® must be adhered to by all of our farmer owners at all times, in addition to compliance with all applicable national legislation and specific industry audit standards (e.g. Red Tractor in the UK). Compliance with Arlagården ® is monitored through a robust audit programme which combines regular farmer self-assessments with independent third-party audits by external auditors as well as random spot checks. External audits are conducted by SGS, a global testing, inspection and certification company. From 2020, it has been a compulsory requirement for farmers to regularly assess and report animal welfare within a framework of four welfare outcome measures (mobility, cleanliness, lesion & abrasions, and body condition score). The compliance criteria demands prompt action where minimum performance levels are not met. Arla recognises cattle as sentient beings which can feel pain and distress, and knows it has a responsibility to ensure the cows and calves needs on every farm are met. To achieve this, Arla has a global team that is fully dedicated to defining strong animal welfare standards across all farms and driving improvements with farmer owners. This team works closely with dedicated local colleagues in each country where Arla’s farmer owners produce raw milk. These colleagues are responsible for ensuring animal welfare compliance, overseeing third-party audits, and supporting farmers to rectify non-conformances. These local team members work closely with our agricultural teams, who support farmers on a daily basis to improve all aspects of farming, including animal welfare. Overall responsibility for animal welfare sits within the Animal Welfare team led by the Milk Quality & Arlagården ® Director, reporting to our Agricultural and Sustainability Vice President, who reports directly to our Executive Vice President, CASO (Chief Agricultural & Sustainability Officer). As a democratic business, elected farmer representatives on the Preparatory Working Group regularly meet 5-6 times annually to review Arla’s animal welfare requirements and proposed developments to ensure the Arlagården ® programme remains relevant and progressive. ANIMAL WELFARE AT ARLA 2
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