Preslaughter welfare, transport and antemortem inspection Flashcards
Mortality rate during transport - lambs, pigs, broilers
- lambs 0.02%
- pigs 0.07%
- broilers 0.25%
Common cause - DOA - pigs
- hyperthermia
- metabolic acidosis
Common causes - DOA - sheep
- smothering
- ill health
Common causes - DOA - broilers
- CHF
- trauma
Causes - fatal trauma in broilers
- dislocated/ broken hip 76%
- ruptured liver 11%
- head trauma 8%
- intrapertioneal haemorrhaging (not liver) 3%
- other 3%
% carcasses with bruising (cattle, sheep, pigs)
- cattle 1.67%
- sheep 0.14%
- pigs 1.48%
Causes - bruising
- prods
- high stocking density (trailer, lairage)
- fights as stressed (white marks)
- stress of mixing –> re-establish hierachy (mounting)
What are red wing tips caused by?
- pre-slaughter
- slaughter: tonic clonic contractions post-mortem
- economic issue
Why do hens have a much higher % broken bones than broilers?
osteoporosis (more likely if older birds, Ca deficient and sudden changes in lighting
What are the causes of torn skin and what spp does this affect?
- contact with barbed wire, nails, metal stanchions - cattle, sheep, pigs
- dog bites - sheep
- horn raking - cattle, horned sheep
- teeth marks -pigs
- claw damage - ducks. turkeys, geese
- cages - salmon (overstocked)
- feather pecking - hens and turkeys
Define DFD and DCB
- DFD = dry, firm dry pork
- DCB = dry, cutting beef
= indicates stress pre-slaughter
Define PSE
= pale soft exudative pork
- stressed at time of slaughter
Describe high pH meat
pH at 24h is >6
Describe PSE meat
- pH at 45 minute is
Causes - high pH dark meat
- overexertion (sheep)
- long distance transport (cattle, pigs)
- long periods w/o food (pigs)
- long periods in lairage (pigs)
- cold exposure (turkeys)
- fighting (cattle, pigs)
- over-stocking (pigs)
- injury (sheep)
- dehydration (rabbits)
Effects of dehydration
- poor welfare (thirst, headaches)
- difficult skin removal
- welfare/suffering issue
- sticky meat
- darker tougher eat
- smaller loin mm area
How to avoid high pH meat:
- reduce pre-slaughter activity and stress
- allow recovery of mm glycogen after stress
- enhance mm glycogen storage
What is the largest livestock export hub in UK?
- heathrow
- day old chicks (–> layers)
- -> all around world
- must be transported in 48h
List transport stressors
- water/feed deprivation
- physical fatigue
- sleep deprivation
- social disruption
- injuries
- motion
- noise
- windchill
- heat stress
Animals unfit for transport (legally)
- lame (severe - must be able to walk unassisted, weight bearing on all fours and stand for whole duration of transport)
What is a casualty animal?
- animal that isn’t legally transportable otherwise signed off by a vet (e.g. a 3-legged animal that can stand)
- must be transported individually
- must be able to lie down
- determine at abattoir (ante-mortem inspection) if animal requires emergency slaughter, if so, take slaughter equipment to animal, don’t move! ensure prompt stunning, bleeding and evisceration. Trace hx to avoid repetition. Some abattoirs have a slaughter line just for casualty animals.
T/F: stunning doesn’t legally kill an animal
True - legally you always have a have a second method (bleeding, prod in brain through hole made by captive bolt gun and macerate - NOT animals for human consumption though d/t risk of BSE prions entering food chain)
Outline antemortem inspection
- CS of dz transmittable to animals/people
- welfare
- unfit for human consumption
- NSAIDs and other pharmacology (bute - horses)
- lame (casualty slaughter if can’t walk)
- dropped/distended udder (huge risk of teat damage, mastitis pain may be a lesser concern as not all cases of mastitis are painful)
Method - reducing animals to single file
- funnel race
- stepped race
- crowding pen
- difficult with poultry d/t numbers. Best to point to modules/crates of birds, best to look at # DOAs and the condition of these (if find many catching injuries on DOA animals –> then look at production chain and ID cases of these)
Antemortem inspection - poultry
- thermal and physical injury
- monitor DOA rate
- ID causes of death
- inspect live birds if cases of DOA
- examine birds for trauma
- assess hanging-on (waterbath stunning)
- assess disturbance b/w hanging on and waterbath
- check that runts tx humanely (shackles too big so fall through)
- initiate prevenatitve measures
Purpose - grooved concrete floor (diamond shaped pattern)
Grip (one direction of groove –> animals fall over when turn corner)
Problem of expanded metal floors
unwilling to walk over as animals feel like they are stepping into a void as concentrate on faeces etc below the grate
Welded metal overlay - risks
- tripping
- pain
- sharp bits if poorly maintained
- trauma
List distraction for animals (hamper walking)
- overhead
- ground level
- sideways
