NMPF CEO Joins Humane Treatment Group in Discussing Proper Animal Care
December 4, 2014
NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern joined the country’s oldest humane animal treatment organization, a top chef and others in a mid-November panel discussion about commitment to proper farm animal care.
Organized by the American Humane Association, the briefing was meant to thank those working for better animal treatment and to encourage support for humane farming practices, especially during the holiday season.
Mulhern, representing the dairy industry, told the group a commitment to humane care is not only good for dairy cows but for consumers and dairy farmers as well. “In addition to the moral imperative of quality animal care, well-treated cows are the key factor in the production of high quality milk upon which dairy farmers’ livelihoods depend,” he said. “Simply put, what’s good for cows is good for the farmers who milk those cows.”
Also participating in the briefing were prominent chef Douglas Keane from Sonoma County, California; Animal Agriculture Alliance President Kay Johnson Smith, and Eggland’s Best CEO Charles Lanktree.
In recent years, NMPF has developed an animal care program that combines a comprehensive set of best practices with education, evaluation and third-party verification to assure adherence on farms. Today, nearly 80 percent of the milk produced in the country comes from farmers meeting the program’s standards.
NMPF recently improved the reach of the program, called Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, by requiring all farms that supply participating companies to be enrolled and evaluated for their animal care practices.
Download PDF
