Leaders from academia and industry have formed an independent advisory group to focus on beef cattle health and well-being. The North American Food Animal Well-being Commission for Beef (NAFAWC-Beef) will advocate for increased research funding for animal well-being, facilitate the communication of research results in a more timely manner, advance best management practices in cattle health and welfare, and serve as an unbiased, science- and production-based group to address concerns about animal well-being.

Dan Thomson, Kansas State University, and Joseph Stookey, University of Saskatchewan, will serve as co-chairs.

NAFAWC-Beef will help direct research efforts, field studies and assessment tools for the North American beef industry in relation to beef cattle well-being in order to provide science-based recommendations for cattle management practices. Meanwhile, the commission's public outreach efforts will focus on a number of groups across all levels of the beef chain, including farming and ranching organizations, consumer groups, beef harvesting companies, veterinary groups, food retail and restaurant groups, and animal welfare groups.