CFAW Symposium 2025
Boots on the Ground:
Animal Welfare from the Veterinary Perspective
When
October 2, 2025
Where
The Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences
1371 W Altheimer Dr.
Fayetteville, AR 72704
Registration
This event has ended.
The Center for Food Animal Wellbeing (CFAW) is proud to host its 11th annual symposium, bringing together leading veterinary professionals to share real-world insights and case studies on animal welfare. This year’s theme highlights practical, on-the-ground approaches to improving welfare outcomes in food animal production.
PAACO will award 7 hours of C.E. for the symposium.
Donate to the CFAW Symposium
Donation instructions
Click the link below. Type in the amount you’d like to donate (Bronze – $500, Silver – $1,000 or Gold – $2,500). “Animal Well Being Discretionary” will be pre-selected in the Designation.
Schedule
7:30 – 8:00 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
8:00 – 8:10 a.m.
WELCOME: David Caldwell & Shawna Weimer
University of Arkansas
8:10 – 9:00 a.m.
Jennifer Walker
Chief Animal Welfare Officer, Kinder Ground
The Applications and Limitations of Animal Welfare Audit
9:00 – 9:50 a.m.
Brooke Kitting
Sr. Veterinarian, Seaboard Foods
Every Pig Matters: A System’s Perspective on Individual Pig Care
9:50 – 10:00 a.m.
Break
10:00 – 10:50 a.m.
Kate Barger
Principal Veterinary Consultant, KB Welfare Consulting
What the Cluck? Global Welfare Perspective from a Bilingual “Fowl Language” Vet
10:50 – 11:40 a.m.
Cole Crumpacker
Staff Veterinarian, Butterball
Turkey Welfare Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) and Turkey Welfare
11:40 – 12:30 p.m.
Laura Tensa
Veterinarian, Wilcox Farms
Translating Welfare Science into Practice
12:30 – 1:15 p.m.
Lunch
1:15 – 2:45 p.m.
Case Study Lightning Rounds
All Speakers
2:45 – 3:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks – Dr. Shawna Weimer
University of Arkansas
Speakers
Dr. Jennifer Walker
Chief Animal Welfare Officer Kinder Ground
The Applications and Limitations of Animal Welfare Audit
What makes a good audit? How is that different from an animal welfare program? What makes a meaningful animal welfare program? Dr. Jen will share her experience and perspective on animal welfare and the role of auditing and we can and need to better in developing and managing animal welfare for the business.
About Dr. Walker
Dr. Jen graduated from UC Davis (2000) practicing on California dairies before earning her PhD at Ohio State (2010). Dr. Jen spent 15 years in the supply chain leading animal welfare and milk quality programs for Dean Foods (2010-2018) and Danone North America (2018-2023). Along the way she completed her Masters in Animal Welfare Ethics, Policy and Law at the University of Edinburgh.
Today, she returned to the barnyard as the Co-founder and Chief Animal Welfare Officer of Kinder Ground, a fund for good dedicated to supporting the farming community to elevate the welfare of animals in food production.
Dr. Brooke Kitting
Sr. Veterinarian Seaboard Foods
Every Pig Matters: A System’s Perspective on Individual Pig Care
As an industry, we frequently think in large numbers to drive productivity, but animal welfare is oftentimes most impacted by care of the individual pig. This presentation will highlight key successes and opportunities in advancing individual pig care. By focusing on the individual, we can continue to raise the standard of welfare across the herd.
About Dr. Kitting
Brooke Kitting, a 2022 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, has focused her career on advancing swine health and welfare within Seaboard Foods’ integrated production system. As Sr. Veterinarian, she oversees the commercial health strategy for a system encompassing 280,000 sows and 2.5 million growing pig spaces across Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Colorado. Brooke collaborates with cross-functional teams to improve animal outcomes while supporting production efficiency. She also holds an MS in Animal Health and Industry from Texas Tech University, where her research explored euthanasia perspectives among TN Visa animal caretakers at Seaboard Foods.
Dr. Kate Barger
Principal Veterinary Consultant KB Welfare Consulting
What the Cluck? Global welfare perspective from a bilingual “fowl language” vet
As a bilingual poultry vet, Kate’s travels have taken her to some of the most innovative and most rustic broiler farms in the world. Regardless of the language spoken, she focuses on how to help improve the lives of the chickens and how to help farmers care for and care about their flocks. In this talk, Dr. Kate will provide a global perspective about the challenges, successes and continuous efforts to improve poultry welfare. From evaluating modern technology to suggesting MacGyver-style solutions, Kate’s will highlight how a poultry veterinarian can be instrumental in advancing sustainable agriculture, achieving company objectives, and troubleshooting problems from the hatchery and farm to the processing plant.
About Dr. Barger
Dr. Kate Barger Weathers is a poultry veterinarian and thought leader in animal welfare. Kate received undergraduate degrees in Animal Science, Poultry Science and Spanish from NC State University in 1998. She graduated from NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine in 2002 and then completed a specialty degree in avian medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) as a Rotary International Scholar. As a veterinarian and global welfare director for a primary breeder company, Kate provided poultry health and technical support to breeder farms, hatcheries, and broiler companies around the world for 20 years. In April 2024, Kate started her animal health and poultry welfare consulting business. She now combines research, strategic planning, training and practical welfare guidance to help clients excel with their business goals and continuously advance measurable outcomes. She aims to provide customized insights, create innovative solutions, and empower agriculture and food companies to increase sustainable, consistent outcomes.
Dr. Cole Crumpacker
Staff Veterinarian Butterball, LLC
Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) and Turkey Welfare
This research talk will cover a brief overview Avian Metapneumovirus and its impact within Butterball Midwest, as well as our journey with aMPV vaccination and how it pertains to welfare.
About Dr. Crumpacker
I grew up on a cattle and poultry operation near Ozark, Arkansas. I obtained my B.S. in Poultry Science from the University of Arkansas in 2020. After graduation, I attended the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. During my clinical years, I dedicated much of my time to seeing many different aspects of the poultry industry. After graduation in May of 2024, I joined the Butterball, LLC. I currently reside in Ozark, Arkansas and cover the Ozark and Huntsville complexes.
Dr. Laura Tensa
Veterinarian Wilcox Farms
Translating Welfare Science Into Practice
This talk will draw on my previous experiences in animal welfare, focusing on the science behind the policies that are written, how we translate the policy into action. I will also briefly discuss how we can influence policy and improve welfare for animals within our systems.
About Dr. Tensa
After graduating from Oregon State, and earning a Master’s from the University of Georgia, I first worked in the turkey industry, gaining experience in primary breeders through the processing plant in the Midwest and East Coast. I recently moved back to the Pacific Northwest, where I am working for a cage free & free range layer operation. I am also working on a Masters in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law at the University of Edinburgh.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is an equal opportunity institution. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate or need materials in another format, please contact the event organizer as soon as possible.