News Release
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
June 8, 2011
CONTACTS:
Yvonne Thaxton, director, Center for Food Animal Well Being
479-575-3595, ythaxton@uark.edu
Dave Edmark, Division of Agriculture Communications
479-575-5647, dedmark@uark.edu
PHOTO: (Thaxton.jpg)
Yvonne Thaxton
Center for Food Animal Well Being established, plans research
and outreach
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- One hot topic today in agriculture is the welfare of
animals being raised for food production. The subject has become important enough for
the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture to establish the Center for Food Animal
Well Being with its stated goal of improving animal health, animal handling, food safety
and productivity. The center's first director, Yvonne Thaxton, has arrived at the
Fayetteville campus to take up her position and has a slate of events and activities
already in the making.
''The center is going to identify areas of research to get projects done and identify
people to do the research,'' Thaxton said. ''I'll be working with poultry, swine, cattle,
goats, all food animals.''
The center is associated with the Division of Agriculture's food science and
poultry science departments and with the National Agricultural Law Center at the UA
School of Law. It was established earlier this year with the support of a $1 million gift
from the Tyson Foods Foundation matched by the Walton Family Charitable Support
Foundation through the university's Matching Gift Program.
Thaxton, who came to the university from Mississippi State University where she
was a poultry science professor, has also been vice president for science and quality
assurance at Marshall Durbin Food Corp. in Birmingham. In industry, Thaxton witnessed
the emerging trend among food processors to pay particular attention to the conditions in
which food animals are raised.
''What we're trying to do here is take research that's being done every day in
nutrition, food safety and different breeding techniques and look at their impact on the
well being of the animals,'' Thaxton said. ''This includes confinement, transportation,
every aspect of the agricultural animals' life.''
Researchers will examine indicators of stress or pain on animals. Thaxton said
she is currently working with a research group in The Netherlands that is using
electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activity as a way of determining if an
animal is showing aversion or stress.
''I think large-scale confinement rearing is a good thing, but that doesn't mean
we're doing it the very best way it will ever be done,'' she said.
Some of the center's research will go back over areas covered previously, but
with a new focus on how particular aspects of animal development affect their well being.
New information can have an impact on how food animals are raised.
''A big issue with poultry is that the bird has evolved so much with natural
selection to where the bird of today has very little in common with the bird of 20 years
ago,'' Thaxton noted. ''So if we're making our decisions today based on research done
40 years ago, we can be going down the wrong path. Some research is going to have to
be repeated with the modern bird.''
Thaxton has several projects for the center lined up to begin in the coming
months. In August, an annual seminar for industry and faculty will debut that will feature
speakers on swine, cattle and poultry issues. The program is still being planned and will
include updates on regulations and research.
Thaxton is working with the organizers to bring the university into the Animal
Welfare Consortium, a newly established organization that is receiving funds from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Grandin Foundation founded by Temple Grandin,
the Colorado State University professor who is a livestock handling equipment designer.
The consortium, Thaxton said, will have species-specific units with centers at its
member universities to identify research needs and provide expertise to various groups.
Arkansas will house the center to examine poultry-related issues for the consortium.
The American Humane Association's scientific advisory committee will meet at
the university later this year at the center's invitation, Thaxton said, and will bring animal
welfare experts to the campus.
Thaxton's activity on the center's behalf also includes developing academic
courses for graduate and undergraduate students in the Dale Bumpers College of
Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, probably by the fall of 2012. Short courses for
industry are also on the agenda.
''My vision is that we'll have a holistic center that brings in as much expertise
from outside so we can maximize the dollars that we have,'' Thaxton said. ''We'll have
seminars and short courses to relay this information back to our stakeholders.''
News releases and photos are available online at
http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/392.htm