A laying hen welfare training video series created to educate farm employees on the best practices for everyday animal care has been updated to a modern learning management system by United Egg Producers for its UEP Certified program.
The series is a collaboration between the UEP, videography company AgCreate, layer farm employees and academia experts.
“The coolest part about these videos is they are primarily driven by people who are providing the care to the birds every single day,” explained Larry Sadler, UEP Vice President of Animal Welfare. “A lot of the information in the videos is what experienced caregivers have found to be important to know.”
The series contains nine parts that range 6-17 minutes in length.
The series must be viewed annually for member’s UEP Certification to be maintained and is highly recommended for farm employees or other personnel who spend time around layers.
Topics in the series include:
- Introduction to UEP and UEP Certified
- What is Hen Welfare?
- Assessing Behavior & Clinical Signs During Hen Checks
- Audits
- Housing
- Proper Handling of Hens, Pullets, and Chicks
- Transport of Hens, Pullets, and Chicks
- Molting
- Cervical Dislocation
“We have had strong viewership, and our members and their employees are already utilizing the videos. We have gotten positive feedback so far,” said Sadler.
While all the videos are in English, UEP hopes to have them available in Spanish by the end of the year. Sadler added that the series was purposefully designed to be modular, so viewers can expect topics to be added in the future.
“It is my hope to continue to provide value-added tools to the industry that will help improve animal welfare,” he continued. “I look at this series as a continuation of providing animal welfare training resources to the layer industry.”