Meat&Poultry - November 2013 - 20

Living the Legacy

Taking the road less traveled to a career
dedicated to animal welfare
by jerry karczewski

she read a book by Dr. Temple Grandin. "I had never

meatpoultry@sosland.com

L

heard of her at that point. After I read the book, I thought
she would be a super-interesting woman to meet and work

ily Edwards-Callaway is head of animal welfare at

with," she says. "I called her, and she had a spot avail-

JBS' North American operations, but the road to her

able. So, I met with her and signed on for my Ph.D. pro-

current job has been anything but traditional.

gram," in 2006.

"I didn't grow up around livestock at all. I grew up in

Her doctoral research addressed the evaluation of stress

a suburban town in Rhode Island," she says. "I received

on hogs by measuring blood lactate levels at different

my degree in French from Amherst College in 2002, and

points in their journey to slaughter. Edwards-Callaway

moved to Belgium for a year to teach kindergarten. I real-

points to one interesting result of her research: "We used

ized that that wasn't what I want-

these blood-lactate analyzers

ed to do. I liked animals, and I

that were used primarily for

liked science, so I decided to get

athletic endurance training to

a Masters in Animal Science at

measure blood lactate.

the Univ. of Rhode Island.

"I think that ever since the

"They thought I was a little

research, people are using

bit crazy, 'This French major

blood-lactate measurements

wants to do animal science?'"

to assess changes in their fa-

she adds.

cility, potential improvements

The university's animal-sci-

they want to make or animal

ence department is well known

handling impact on pig stress,"

for its fisheries and pre-veter-

she continues. "Measuring lac-

inary programs, but R hode

tate on pigs is an easy, practi-

Island didn't provide a lot of

cal and accurate way to moni-

exposure to livestock. "The re-

tor changes within a handling

search facility at Rhode Island

system - it is clear from my

had about 30 sheep and a couple

conversation with the vendor

Lily Edwards-Callaway

of pigs," she laughs. "Although

that many producers and pack-

small, it did open my eyes to

ers have used this method to

many things I had never had

improve their system."

experience with before.
"I worked on a project with captive monkeys for zoo-

Touching lives

animal welfare. Accredited zoos have to have an enrich-

After earning her Ph.D. in 2009, Edwards-Callaway took

ment program for primates. To help understand if these

a position as assistant professor at Kansas State Univ., par-

enrichment programs are effective, it is important to un-

ticipating in research on pain mitigation in dairy calves.

derstand animal behavior and how it changes, but observ-

"And then I met some people at a conference from JBS.

ing animals takes time. I was interested in understanding

We had a conversation and an opportunity opened up to

the amount of observation time needed to get accurate in-

oversee the animal-welfare program for cattle, sheep and

formation about behavior," she explains.

pigs," she explains. "I've been here since January 2012,

Trying to figure out her next steps, her advisor suggested

20

* Meat&Poultry * November 2013 * www.MeatPoultry.com

not quite two years - and I love it.
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Meat&Poultry - November 2013

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