How does SWAP help producers?
It gives them a uniform, producer-developed tool to help maintain market availability, or open up new marketing avenues, if those markets ask for information about animal welfare. Food service and retail companies may want assurances about on-farm animal care practices. This raises the possibility that in order to have access to these markets through the packers that supply them, a producer might have to show compliance with the animal welfare guidelines of multiple companies, written by people not familiar with swine production. SWAP will provide a means of dealing with these requirements that is uniform, producer-developed, and tailored for implementation on the individual farm.Even if a producer is not in a market in which the packer asks for animal welfare information, this tool will help them to evaluate and track their animals’ welfare over time and possibly identify weaknesses in management, nutrition, or health programs before they become production problems.Finally, implementi
