Meat+Poultry - March 2023 - 20

COVER STORY
Her plate is full as the HHI program consists
of five different two-and-a-half day workshops
covering the following topics:
* Animal welfare (on-farm through transport)
* Livestock receiving and lairage
* Humane restraint and stunning
* Stunning equipment operation
* Building a robust, systematic approach to
animal welfare
In late February, Kirk, along with Abby
Kurt Vogel, a previous
graduate student of Dr.
Temple Grandin's when
he earned his PhD at
Colorado State University,
was recently interviewed
for a documentary about
her lifelong contributions
to the meat industry and
the autism community.
The grant request was quickly adjusted
to reflect the request of the state officials to
provide additional funding for the tuition
reimbursement cost for a total of 240 people to
go through the program, to ensure every plant
in the state could have two frontline workers
trained. After the proposal was approved,
funding allocation to UWRF began June 1,
2022. Vogel said that commitment represented
a " transformative " investment, as the grant
supports the HHI through the end of 2024.
While the initial focus of the talks with
DATCP was on the creation of the HHI, state
officials made it clear that there was also
an opportunity to develop programming
to educate younger people about career
opportunities available in the meat industry.
This led to another idea being pitched to
create high school curriculum focused on
meat science, as part of a campaign led by
Arquimides Reyes, PhD, an assistant professor
of animal science at UWRF's who also is
committed to developing beef industry leaders
for the future.
The total funding that was awarded from
the state was over $600,000, including $80,000
for the high school meat science curriculum
and the remaining $520,000-plus earmarked
for the HHI. The good news was made public
in October 2022 and soon thereafter, Vogel
hired a former student of his, Ashlynn Kirk,
as the program manager for the newly minted
program. Kirk earned her bachelor's degree
in animal science at UWRF and had recently
earned a master's in animal biology at the
University of California, Davis.
She said the decision to move back to River
Falls for the this opportunity was an easy one.
20 MEAT+POULTRY | 03.23 | www.meatpoultry.com
Tomandl, Kelsey Kuehni, and Nathan Garvey
- student employees at the UWRF Meat Lab
- began pilot testing the curriculum for the
workshop titled " Building a Robust Systematic
Approach to Animal Welfare. "
To prepare for the stunning part of the
training, Kirk recently ordered mannequinlike
livestock animal heads of several species,
designed to be used for training.
" They are life-size model heads that have
a removable top, allowing for a reusable
brain canister to be placed inside for stunning
practice, " she said. " They will be used to
help teach people how to use a captive bolt, "
she said.
For the training, the plan is to construct
several different types of restrainer models and
position the training heads in the restrainers to
simulate real-world stunning scenarios without
worrying about a live animal possibly suffering
during a session.
" It totally takes the pressure off the person
learning so they can focus, " Vogel said, " and
if they make mistakes, we can coach them
more effectively. "
With Vogel at the helm, animal welfare
research, teaching, training and advancing the
awareness of its importance is a significant
priority at UWRF.
" It's an exciting time to be here, " Vogel said,
who at the age of 38 has already achieved so
much in terms of bridging the gap between
industry and education.
" It's not uncommon to sit down with this
team and see peoples' eyes well up with tears
at times because what we're doing here really
matters, " Vogel said.
He attributes the accomplishments at
UWRF largely to the faculty and students who
share his passion and excitement for the work
being done with an optimistic outlook.
" It feels like we might be on to something, "
he said.
Joel Crews/Sosland Publishing Co.
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - March 2023

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