That’s according to Dr Andrew Fisher, Associate Professor, Production Animal Management and Welfare, University of Melbourne, and he says producers need to be aware of this now so they will be better prepared for the future.

“If you look in most Australian supermarkets shelves now, there’s been a huge shift towards free-range or barn produced eggs,” Dr Fisher said.

“From a farmer’s perspective, it means there is an ability to sell eggs that have been produced in this way.”

He says although farmers are skilled at developing a product and growing it to market specifications, they need to be open to adopting best practices now, because consumers are becoming more aware of animal welfare issues.

“If producers embrace change now, then their products will be better matched to consumers in the future.”

Dr Fisher himself has a wealth of experience in the animal welfare arena. He graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Melbourne and after practicing in Colac and northern England, he completed a PhD in beef cattle health and welfare through the Veterinary Faculty of University College Dublin. In 2002, Andrew joined the CSIRO, and helped establish the CSIRO Animal Welfare Research Group, as well as improved practices for pain management in farm animals, livestock transportation and measurement of animal welfare. He is now in his current role at the University of Melbourne.

Speaking at MLA’s Southern Meat Profit Day, which will be held on April 30, Dr Fisher hopes to get farmers thinking about how they can adopt best practices on-farm.

At the moment, he said Australia is in the midst of developing new welfare standards and guidelines to establish a more uniform code across the country.

Dr Fisher says this will be an important step towards Australia improving their animal welfare across the board.

And for producers, it is all about improving their on-farm practices, while at the same time improving their product.

“As consumers become wealthier they tend to eat more meat, which is good news for producers, but they also become more selective about what products they buy.”