Animal welfare assessment contest: Backyard goats
Test your animal welfare assessment skills while learning about the welfare of backyard goats. In this exercise, you’ll compare two fictitious scenarios of goats. Use the photos and information provided to analyze all aspects of the animals’ lives: housing, diet, enrichment, human-animal interactions, health care and outcomes, social environment, and behavior. Come away with a deeper understanding of how to assess animal welfare in general, and goat welfare in particular.
This exercise originally was presented to participants in the AVMA Animal Welfare Assessment Contest. The contest teaches participants how to apply ethical reasoning and critical thinking skills to assess the welfare of animals used for human purposes (e.g., agriculture, research, companionship). Learn more at awjac.org.
Participants can expect to learn about:
- Factors that go into a thorough welfare assessment
- How to assess animal welfare using science-based methods and reasoning
- Analyzing all aspects of an animal’s life to assess its welfare
Follow these instructions to complete the exercise and earn your CE certificate.
- Review the resources. While this is not a requirement to obtain your CE certificate, the resources provide useful information on goat welfare as well as how to assess animal welfare.
- View the scenario. Try to stick to the allotted time of one minute per slide in order to mimic the time constraints of participating in the Animal Welfare Assessment Contest.
- Use the engagement questions to assist with your assessment.
- Complete the evaluation and view expert feedback to claim your CE certificate.
AVMA members only: After viewing the scenario, you may submit a three-minute video of your oral assessment for judging and feedback. For an example, see the sample scenarios on the AVMA Animal Welfare Assessment Contest website. Submitted videos will be reviewed by a judge and then deleted. Please ensure all clothing, background items, and video content are professional and appropriate.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Dr. Knauer developed her love of the dairy industry while an undergrad at the University of Vermont. After graduating with an Animal Science degree, she continued her education at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine, earning her VMD in 2010. She then completed an Internship and Residency in Ambulatory and Production Medicine at Cornell University in 2013. She completed her PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Sandra Godden at the University of Minnesota and joined the faculty in the fall of 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Dairy Production Medicine where she splits her time between teaching and research. Her teaching interests include animal welfare and behavior, dairy production medicine, and small ruminant and camelid production medicine. Her research interests include young stock health management, dairy cattle behavior and welfare, and the use of precision dairy technologies to predict and detect disease.
Dr. Cia Johnson, DVM, MS, MSc
Dr. Cia Johnson became AVMA’s director of animal welfare in 2016 after serving seven years as an assistant director focusing on animal welfare issues in food animal production and handling practices. Her background is in agriculture and animal welfare issues pertaining to equine, livestock, and poultry. She earned her DVM and a master of science in animal science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and holds a master of science degree in international animal welfare, ethics, and law from the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. Paul J. Plummer, PhD
Dr. Paul Plummer is the executive director of the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE), housed at the Iowa State University Research Park.
Dr. Plummer is also the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and a faculty member in the Departments of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine and Veterinary Microbiology and Preventative Medicine at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Plummer’s clinical specialty is internal medicine and infectious disease of ruminants. He has been board certified in Large Animal Internal Medicine by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine since 2004. He is also the only individual in the United States (and one of only two in North America) that is board certified by the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management (the only specialty board for sheep and goats in the world). In recognition of his leadership as a clinical veterinarian he was recently appointed to the USDA Secretary of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health (term appointment 2019-2020).
Dr. Plummer is the principal investigator leading an independent extramurally funded research laboratory with a significant focus on antimicrobial resistant bacteria. His laboratory currently consists of 13 members. His work focuses on the ecology, transmission and mitigation of zoonotic and antibiotic resistant organisms in companion animals and livestock systems.
Finally, Dr. Plummer is an active livestock producer. His family owns livestock and he is in the barn milking twice a day when he is not traveling out of town. This “real life” daily experience as a livestock producer allows him to experience the economics and practicalities of producing livestock and provides the strong foundation for his credibility with livestock producer groups and veterinarians.