After chicken and pigs, now also cows and calves: from mid-March, farmers can register for the Initiative Tierwohl (ITW) for cattle.
With the ITW Cattle, the well-known animal welfare programme is creating uniform criteria for the breadth of cattle farming for the first time. The basis for this is formed by the animal welfare and health requirements of the QS quality assurance system, to which the ITW adds an animal welfare plus. Cattle fattening, calf fattening and dairy farms that want to market their slaughter cows with the animal welfare seal can register with the initiative from 15 March. Auditing begins on 1 April. According to ITW managing director Dr Alexander Hinrichs, the first beef products could be available on the market from May.
Focus on husbandry, hygiene and health
Participating livestock farmers receive a price premium from their customers for slaughtered ITW animals. In the first year of the programme, this amounts to 10.7 cents per kilo of carcass weight. From the second year, it will be increased to at least 12.83 cents/kg - due to the addition of a further animal welfare requirement from 1 April 2023, when scrubbing facilities for the animals must be installed in the stables. Dairy farms will receive a price premium of 4 cents/kg carcass weight for their slaughter cows. There is no standardised price premium for veal farms - this will be negotiated bilaterally between the partners.
Requirements correspond to farming stage 2
The companies must implement defined QS basic criteria from animal husbandry, animal health and hygiene. In addition, special husbandry requirements such as animal cleanliness, intensive veterinary care and increased space must be taken into account in accordance with husbandry level 2. The inspection system is similar to that for pigs and poultry: during the three-year period, livestock farmers are to be inspected twice a year. Römer estimates that a third of cattle fattening farms could have joined the programme by next year.
REWE participates "as a matter of course"
"As a founding member of the Animal Welfare Initiative, we will of course participate in the ITW Beef programme," says Tobias Seidenfaden, Senior Category Buyer Meat and Poultry, welcoming the launch. The company is currently examining which ITW standards can be incorporated into the existing programmes. Seidenfaden: "Our goal for the next few years is to only sell beef from husbandry types 3 and 4 in service and self-service."
Founded in 2015, the Initiative Tierwohl (ITW) is an industry alliance of agriculture, meat producers, catering and food retailers, including the REWE Group. ITW supports farmers in implementing measures for the welfare of their livestock that go beyond the legal standards.
