ANIMAL WELFARE (Issues in Beef Cattle) Flashcards
3 approaches to address animal welfare:
- Basic health and functioning
- Natural living
- Affective states
Producers and vets approach to address animal welfare:
-often focus on basic health and functioning
-habituation, desensitization, lack of perspective on what consumers may consider a problem
*consumers often focus on the natural living and affective states
Consumer disconnection from production practices:
-focus groups with consumers who claim to be knowledgeable or interested in the topic of food production, most of them struggle to elaborate
*most concerning was their misconceptions of how cattle are raised
Misconceptions of how cattle are raised:
-quickly and cheaply
-pumped with hormones and antibiotics
Consumers concerns on production practices:
-43% had no concerns
-29% had animal welfare concerns
Folk conceptions of welfare: (what non-experts people identify as welfare problem)
-provision of choice
-longevity, killing of young animals
-wasteful death
-aesthetics of methods of killing
-aesthetics of the animal and their environment
-human kindness/Stockmanship
Provision of choice
-shade
-cafeteria-style diets
Wasteful death:
-mass depopulation
Aesthetics of methods of killing:
-effective stunning/bleeding
Aesthetics of the animal and their environment:
-stocking density
-transport
Welfare concern: live animal transportation:
-often the only time the general public sees the animals used in agriculture
-important public and trade concerns worldwide
-perceived to be one of the most stressful events
One of the most stressful events: live animal transportation:
-unfamiliar sounds
-unpredictable motions (start-stop, turns)
-temperature
-water and feed restriction
-handling during loading and unloading
-crowding, commingling
-issues related to cull cows (ex. lameness)
-etc.
Temperature: live animal transport:
-transport duration and ambient temperatures have a multiplicative effect on each other
-more of a problem during the summer when it’s hot
-if the temperature is low, the temperature of the animal is fine
Transport and loss of body weight:
-if -20C need to spend a lot of time on the truck to lose weight
-higher the temperature, the more likely to lose body weight
-add 1.56% of BW for feeder cattle, 2.6 for calves and 3.56 for cull cattle to any value on the figure
Animal health: downers from transport
-at 30C and below -20C increases the amount dead or downer
-more time on the truck also increased the lame, dead and downers (especially after 20-30hrs)
How often does cattle get transported when arrive at auction:
-fit, compromised, unfit
-over 98% animals were fit upon arrival
-amount of animal welfare compromised in transport maybe isn’t as bad as we think
*for provincial abattoir there was an increase in compromised animals
-federal abattoir had mostly fit animals
Compromised:
-may only be transported with special provisions for care
Unfit:
-may only be transported for veterinarian treatment or diagnosis
Effect of rest stop during long distance transport:
-now 36h before you need to stop
-no consistent effect on welfare indicators
-animals seemed fine no matter the rest time
>hard to replicate industry conditions?
Rested vs. unrested:
-few statistically significant differences between rested and unrested calves (NEFA and standing time)
Auction vs. ranch direct:
-few and inconsistent indicators of reduced welfare were observed
Conditioned vs. unconditioned:
-preconditioning was the main event that effects animal welfare during transport (ex. weaned and offered food and water before transport)
Unconditioned cattle:
Increased:
-fat breakdown
-inflammation
-muscle damage
-standing time (discomfort)
Decreased:
-stress
-fear
What can increase the incidence of stress-mediated disease (BRD)?
-closer proximity of other animals
-human infrastructure
-human handling
Social dynamics within highly populated pens:
May impact feed consumption patterns with potential implications on:
-gut health (ex. acidosis)
-feed efficiency
-growth performance
-carcass value (ex. marbling score and liver abscesses)
What space allowance do cattle prefer in order to maintain normal social interactions?
-when increase space allowance from 20 to 360m2 it did linearly reduced agonist encounters
-average inter-individual distance remained between 10 to 12m
Code of practice of beef cattle:
-all cattle in group must have sufficient space to adopt normal resting postures at same time
-cattle in groups must be able to move freely around the pen and access food and water
-stock density must be managed so factors are not adversely effected by crowding
Factors with stocking density:
-growth performance
-normal behaviour
-morbidity
-mortality rates
-physical appearance
Feedlots and general public view:
-perceived as less ‘natural’ production system and more harmful to the animals
-industry will need to address this perception at some point beyond the evidence on cattle productivity as that is unlikely to resolve the negative perceptions
Effects of feed bunk competition on feed behaviour and growth performance:
-the incoming animal (in:out ratio >1.5): performance was better
-eating rate was faster in animals that were being displaced (in:out ratio: <0.5)
>fast eating rate=more likely to get acidosis
-balanced animals in between
Castration:
-to avoid breeding
-reduce aggression (improve human and animal safety)
-improve carcass quality
Castration code of practice requirements:
-as young as possible (less than a week)
-performed by competent personnel using proper instruments
-seek guidance from vet on method, timing and pain control
-use pain control when bulls are older than 6months
Methods of castration:
-all methods cause pain
-preferred method is based on age and experience
-surgical/burdizzo methods cause more acute pain
-banding results in a more chronic pain (behaviour, physiology, performance)
Dehorning/disbudding:
-decrease risk of injury for handlers and cattle
-minimize the economic loss due to carcass bruising
Dehorning/disbudding code of practice requirements:
-disbud as early as practically possible (less than 2-3 months)
-dehorning by competent personnel using proper instruments
-seek guidance from vet on pain control
>use it to mitigate pain associated with dehorning after horn bud attachment
Branding:
-permanent animal ID
-easy to identify from a distance
-legally accepted as proof of ownership
-may be required in community pastures, lending institutions or for export
Branding code of practice requirements:
-all cattle must be identified using an approved ear tag
-must be performed with proper equipment, restraint and by competent personnel
-do not brand wet cattle due to risk of scalding
Using drugs for pain control:
-use of anesthetics or analgesics can help to control pain, especially in older animals
-oral meloxicam is the only one labeled for use during castration
-extra time, extra money, extra effort
*traditional not used, but not has shown to be effective and worth it
Take home messages:
-industry standards and codes of practice and communication are increasingly influences by citizens and consumers demands and behaviours
-need to get the message across the general public
-push for more sustainable systems
*animal welfare important for ethical reasons but also due to impact on human health
