Animal Welfare

Animal welfare is a critical component of our business and Rivalea commits to
"Care for every pig, every day".

Quality animal welfare is achieved by:

Abiding by Rivalea’s Animal Welfare Policy.
Having people and best practice systems that deliver high standards of animal welfare, maintaining the needs of animals at all times.
Ensuring all relevant people in contact with animals receive specific animal welfare training that enhances positive interactions towards animals.
Fostering an environment where people are encouraged to show empathy towards animals.
Implementing systems and living environments that offer the animals greater opportunity to experience enhanced welfare.
Employing a team of welfare experts.

Every pig is provided with ideal diet to ensure optimum welfare and productivity. The pig’s diets are cereal based, with the majority of grain sourced locally to the feedmill. The Rivalea feed mill is accredited through the FeedSafe® quality assurance program.

Our pregnant sows are housed in social groups, which enable sows to move freely and perform natural social behaviours. During the birth and lactation period, our sows are housed in specially designed accommodation to ensure that piglets are well protected. Weaning of piglets typically occurs between 3-4 weeks of age at which time they are moved into specialised indoor housing or bedded group housing systems.

Our leadership in animal welfare is strengthened through our involvement in Australian Pork Limited (APL), the Animal Welfare Science Centre (AWSC), APRIL (Australasian Pork Research Institute Ltd) and the Victorian and New South Wales Farmers’ Federations.

Rivalea is accredited under the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ®, APIQ® Free Range, APIQ® Gestation Stall Free and APIQ® Customer Specifications Verification for Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd.) and the Australian Livestock Processing Industry Animal Welfare Certification System (AAWCS).