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      Animal welfare in the U.S. slaughter industry—a focus on fed cattle

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          Abstract

          Animal welfare within the U.S. slaughter industry continues to prevail as one of the top priorities for livestock producers, businesses, and consumers alike. There are federal regulations that enforce the humane transport, handling, and slaughter of cattle. The journey that cattle must make to the slaughter facility is comprised of many environmental and human factors that can positively or negatively affect animal welfare. Cattle may be exposed to multiple stressors, such as noise, unfamiliar animals and humans, temperature extremes, temporary food/water deprivation, variable transport distances and experiences, and new pen conditions. The animal caretakers involved in these processes attempt to minimize stress and discomfort for the animals, but research is needed to focus on the gaps in knowledge and to support the implementation of strategies known to enhance the human–animal interactions that occur from farm to slaughter. This literature review will provide a summary of fed cattle welfare topics, research, and industry tools that span across the beef animal’s journey from the farm/feedlot through the slaughter process. In addition, areas that have had little research focus are identified to highlight the need for future work and development of industry tools. Some of these topics include examining trailer design, the use of trailer slats during weather extremes, the welfare aspects of cattle destined for salvage slaughter, multiple preslaughter factors and interactions, abnormal mobility and nonambulatory cattle, lairage environmental conditions, new stunning methods, and the impact of a well-trained, motivated, and stable workforce on cattle and people welfare. The authors conducted a survey at the 2019 North American Meat Institute Animal Care and Handling Conference, which comprised of stakeholders within the meat packing industry, packing plant employees, and food company employees, educators, and auditors. The survey responses identified training/education and communication as areas of need in animal welfare, whereas the majority of survey responses focused on the aspects of the human–animal interaction as the top challenges for the industry. By continuously identifying, measuring, monitoring, and managing animal welfare challenges within the beef cattle slaughter industry, prioritization and execution of programs and training that improve the welfare of cattle can be achieved as animals move through this final stage of the meat production system.

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          Most cited references93

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          Road transport of cattle, swine and poultry in North America and its impact on animal welfare, carcass and meat quality: a review.

          This paper reviews the effects of road transport on the welfare, carcass and meat quality of cattle, swine and poultry in North America (NA). The main effects of loading density, trailer microclimate, transport duration, animal size and condition, management factors including bedding, ventilation, handling, facilities, and vehicle design are summarized by species. The main effects listed above all have impacts on welfare (stress, health, injury, fatigue, dehydration, core body temperature, mortality and morbidity) and carcass and meat quality (shrink, bruising, pH, color defects and water losses) to varying degrees. It is clear that the effect of road transport is a multi-factorial problem where a combination of stressors rather than a single factor is responsible for the animal's well-being and meat quality post transport. Animals least fit for transport suffer the greatest losses in terms of welfare and meat quality while market ready animals (in particular cattle and pigs) in good condition appear to have fewer issues. More research is needed to identify the factors or combination of factors with the greatest negative impacts on welfare and meat quality relative to the species, and their size, age and condition under extreme environmental conditions. Future research needs to focus on controlled scientific assessments, under NA conditions, of varying loading densities, trailer design, microclimate, and handling quality during the transport process. Achieving optimal animal well-being, carcass and meat quality will entirely depend on the quality of the animal transport process.
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            The handling of cattle pre-slaughter and its effects on carcass and meat quality

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              A review of the road transport of cattle.

              The transport of farm animals has been the subject of much research in recent years. This paper reviews the recent scientific literature pertinent to the road transport of cattle. The state of knowledge is summarised and recommendations for best practice based upon this are given. Areas which require further work are also identified.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Anim Sci
                J. Anim. Sci
                jansci
                Journal of Animal Science
                Oxford University Press (US )
                0021-8812
                1525-3163
                April 2020
                06 February 2020
                06 February 2020
                : 98
                : 4
                : skaa040
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins , CO
                [2 ] Elanco Animal Health , Greenfield, IN
                Author notes
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0737-9899
                Article
                skaa040
                10.1093/jas/skaa040
                7134563
                32026929
                44d0bd9f-3820-44e3-a215-8b3394ac820e
                © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com

                History
                : 13 December 2019
                : 05 February 2020
                : 06 April 2020
                Page count
                Pages: 21
                Categories
                Board Invited Review
                AcademicSubjects/SCI00960

                animal welfare,fed cattle,handling,humane,slaughter,transport
                animal welfare, fed cattle, handling, humane, slaughter, transport

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