Animal Well-Being

Heifer International’s Animal Well-Being

Commitment Statement to Animal Well-Being

“Heifer International provides high-quality livestock, training and related support to families and communities to assist with food security and improve livelihoods.   Heifer provides training and extension services so families can improve animal housing, management, breeding, nutrition and veterinary health.  Animals receive humane handling and protection while providing food, wool, honey and draft power.  Training in agroecology integrates livestock production into sustainable farming systems, which protect and enhance the local environment while providing families with food and income.  Animals become a vital part of family activities without causing a burden on farm resources and are integrated into the community.”

A big part of Heifer International's approach to community development is based on the use of local breeds of livestock, local resources and local knowledge in animal well-being. When it comes to animal husbandry, we have learned that there is a wealth of traditional knowledge that has provided basic nutrition and healthcare to animals and people for the past centuries.  In remote communities - where money is not even available let alone used -- we recognize and use this traditional knowledge.  These includes much more than bark, leaves and roots, but extends to the choice and management of the correct animal for the conditions that exist.  Often, the smaller native breeds of cattle -- the ones that don't carry a lot of flesh or gallons of milk - can survive in local conditions and available nutrients much better than improved breeds with the genetic capability to produce more flesh and lots of milk.

As a community grows in its ability to manage change, when the people are better prepared to handle greater production and when pathways to markets begin to form, we have the opportunity as well as the need to improve the inputs, sometimes this means improved livestock genetics through improved animal reproduction.

The well-being of livestock used in Heifer's global projects is an important consideration in our work. Our general Animal Well-Being Guidelines include:

• Giving preference to purchasing animals that are already acclimatized to the local area
• Providing sufficient training to farmers before they receive any livestock
• Using appropriate shelter and separate pens for animals of different species
• Teaching zero-grazing techniques, which enhance animal health and ensure that adequate feed and water are provided
• Emphasizing nutrition, including providing clean water at least once a day
• Encouraging indigenous breeding
• Providing project participants with initial vaccinations

Read success stories that show how Heifer's Animal Well-Being has helped families in: India, Ghana and Romania

Animal health, nutrition and husbandry are provided to many project participants through a program called Community Based Animal Health Care. In this program, a few selected community men and women are provided additional training, and in turn they provide the local first aid and health advice to village livestock and their owners. Each Community Animal Health Worker (CAHW) is linked to the extension veterinary service for additional assistance. CAHWs get periodic refresher training and advance training as the time commences. At the end of the Heifer-supported project, CAHWs are capable of conducting training sessions on their own.

Heifer provides sustainability and self-reliance in livestock production systems by the use of local resources and capacity-building of beneficiaries. Selection of the right participant through participatory approaches and quality skills training delivery has created Heifer’s highly successful CAHWs program as measured by CAHW retention over time.  

A successful program is one in which animal health and husbandry is noted in the community’s livestock. CAHWs, as local technicians, are providing sustainable solutions to the wellbeing of the livestock where Heifer International is working for sustainable community development.

Support Heifer's Animal Well-Being Initiative by giving a livestock gift today.