On May 25 & 26 the University of Nebraska and Iowa State University Extension will conduct an in-service on animal welfare for extension staff. In a combined programming effort with Iowa State University, we are offering a two-day food animal welfare focused training for extension staff in both states.

Who: All Extension staff members who have responsibilities in any way connected to food animals including livestock shows

When: May 25 (11:00 am start) & May 26 (8 am to 3:00 pm )

Where: Council Bluffs - Harrah’s Council Bluffs Casino and Hotel

Registration cost: To be determined.

What will you learn?
The purpose of the training is to ensure you have a strong, practical understanding of the underlying issues involving animal welfare and to be better equipped to serve your clientele. Speakers will address:
1) What animal welfare is and how it’s different from animal rights
2) Why animal welfare has become a strong social concern
3) How ethics and morality are involved in animal care and management
4) Extension’s role in the animal welfare debate
5) How activists have used the citizen initiative process to address welfare concerns
6) The Nebraska citizen initiative process

You will also have the opportunity to be directly involved in developing a future in-service that will prepare educators to help youth and volunteers develop animal welfare skills in the context of livestock shows and in the creation of a web-based animal welfare information depository. There will also be an evening session to obtain certification in PQA (Pork Quality Assurance), TQA (Trucker Quality Assurance) or BQA (Beef Quality Assurance).
All speaker sessions will be video recorded and available for viewing on a website after the training.

Please refer questions to either Duane Reese (402-472-6425 or dreese1@unl.edu) or Lindsay Chichester (402-245-4324 or lchichester2@unl.edu).