Center for Food Animal Wellbeing

✨ “Every single decision you make will have a welfare impact on the animal.” – Dr. Cole Crumpacker

To close out the CFAW 2025 Boots on the Ground: Animal Welfare from the Veterinary Perspective Symposium, this message offered a powerful reminder of the responsibility carried in everyday production decisions. 🥾

Dr. Cole Crumpacker is a veterinarian with Butterball and a proud University of Arkansas Poultry Science alum. His role focuses on poultry health, disease management, and understanding the welfare impacts of decisions made in commercial production systems.

In his talk, Dr. Crumpacker discussed Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV), the management tradeoffs it presents, and the reality that every choice — from health interventions to operational decisions — carries welfare consequences. 💡🦃

🎥 Watch Dr. Crumpacker's full talk here: https://youtu.be/4of06l_Kg_o

🔍 CFAW’s Boots on the Ground series highlights real-world insights from veterinarians working every day to advance animal welfare where it matters most.

✨ “Let’s take the data and do something more with it.” – Dr. Laura Tensa

This message anchored a thoughtful discussion at the CFAW 2025 Boots on the Ground: Animal Welfare from the Veterinary Perspective Symposium. 🥾

Dr. Laura Tensa is a poultry veterinarian with experience across multiple facets of the industry — from breeders to processing — and now works closely with cage-free and free-range layer systems at Wilcox Farms in the Pacific Northwest. Her work focuses on translating welfare standards into meaningful, outcome-based improvements on farms.

In her talk, Dr. Tensa explained how trust with growers, thoughtful use of farm-level data, and clear welfare indicators can be leveraged to drive continuous welfare progress over time. 💡🪶

🎥 Watch Dr. Tensa's full talk here: https://youtu.be/x-1vxG-j3Ig

🔍 CFAW’s Boots on the Ground series highlights real-world insights from veterinarians working every day to advance animal welfare where it matters most.

✨ “We have lots of opportunities to learn and work together.” – Dr. Kate Barger Weathers, DVM

This message was carried through a compelling talk at the CFAW 2025 Boots on the Ground: Animal Welfare from the Veterinary Perspective Symposium. 🥾

Dr. Kate Barger‑Weathers is a poultry veterinarian with extensive global experience across broilers, breeders, hatcheries, and processing systems. She now works as a consultant, partnering with producers to advance measurable poultry health and welfare outcomes through practical, real‑world improvements.

In her talk, Dr. Barger‑Weathers challenged the audience to view animal welfare as a daily responsibility, not just paperwork — and underscored the importance of collaboration across the industry to drive meaningful, lasting progress.

🎥 Watch Dr. Barger-Weathers' full talk here: https://youtu.be/j3CEwXQK8Gc

🔍 CFAW’s Boots on the Ground series highlights real-world insights from veterinarians working every day to advance animal welfare where it matters most. 💡🐔

✨ “It’s not just my duty to improve animal welfare — it’s everyone’s.” – Dr. Brooke Kitting, VMD, MS

This reminder was a standout moment from the CFAW 2025 Boots on the Ground: Animal Welfare from the Veterinary Perspective Symposium. 🥾

Dr. Kitting is a senior veterinarian at Seaboard Foods, where she leads commercial health strategy across an integrated production system spanning more than 280,000 sows and millions of growing pigs. With deep experience in large-scale production systems, she brings a practical, on-the-ground perspective to advancing pig health and welfare.

In her talk, Dr. Kitting highlighted how real welfare progress happens — through individual pig care, strong caretaker training, timely euthanasia decisions, and accountability systems that turn responsibility into measurable change. 💡🐖

🎥 Watch Dr. Kitting's full talk here: https://youtu.be/pfPpQJr8sRU

🔍 CFAW’s Boots on the Ground series highlights real-world insights from veterinarians working every day to advance animal welfare where it matters most.

✨ “Audits don’t improve welfare. People do.” – Dr. Jennifer Walker

This powerful reminder kicked off last year’s CFAW 2025 Boots on the Ground: Animal Welfare from the Veterinary Perspective Symposium. 🥾

Dr. Walker—veterinarian, industry leader, and Co-Founder & Chief Animal Welfare Officer at Kinder Ground—shared her insights on what truly makes an animal welfare audit meaningful. With training from UC Davis, Ohio State University, and the University of Edinburgh, and leadership roles at Dean Foods and Danone North America, she brought deep expertise and refreshing clarity to the conversation.

In her talk, she breaks down why tools and checklists alone aren’t enough—and how the people behind the practices are what drive real welfare outcomes. 💡🐄

🎥 Watch Dr. Walker's full talk here: https://youtu.be/-VChMdo91Ik

🔍 CFAW’s Boots on the Ground series highlights real-world insights from veterinarians working every day to advance animal welfare where it matters most.