Livestock Handling and Transport

Temple Grandin

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781786399168
• eBook ISBN: 9781786399182
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Veterinary Medicine

Edited by world-renowned animal scientist Dr Temple Grandin, this practical book integrates scientific research and industry literature on cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, goats, deer, and horses, in both the developed and developing world, to provide a practical guide to humane handling and minimizing animal stress. Reviewing the latest research on transport systems, restraint methods and facilities for farms and slaughterhouses, this fully updated fifth edition of Livestock Handling and Transport includes five new chapters: The Introduction, Genetics and Handling, Goat Handling and Transport, Robotic Milking, and Transport of Livestock by Sea. There is also new coverage of temperament testing and change, the principles of good stockmanship as well as including new video material to further explain key information contained in the book.Key features include: - Edited by world-renowned animal scientist Temple Grandin.- Two new chapters on the testing and control of temperament and the principles of good stockmanship.- Online videos to further illustrate the key points.

1 The Importance of Stockmanship to Maintain High Standards of Handling and Transport of Livestock and Poultry

TEMPLE GRANDIN^*

Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

^*Contact e-mail address: [email protected]

Summary

Both practical wisdom and scientific research show the importance of good stockmanship. Cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry that fear people have lower productivity. Animals that willingly approach people are more productive. The best stock people have a positive attitude, and like animals. Equipment and technology will never replace the need for skilled stockmanship and handling to reduce stress. Managers often make the mistake of attempting to use new technology as a substitute for stockmanship and handler training. To motivate continuous improvement and to prevent practices from slipping back into old bad habits, the use of numerical outcome measures is strongly recommended. The following parameters should be measured – falling, stumbling, vocalization during handling, becoming miscaught in a squeeze chute, and electric prod (goad) usage. There are six steps for continuous improvement of stockmanship:

1. Teach people to have a positive attitude, to remain calm and not to yel l.

2. Teach stock people to be observan t.

3. Teach basic livestock behaviour and movement pattern s.

4. Use numerical scoring to prevent deterioration of handling practice s.

5. Maintain the highest level of herding and handling, which will require a high skill level.

6. Do not understaff or overwork stock people.

Introduction

Good stockmanship when handling livestock is really important. In 1885, W.D. Hoard, the founder of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine, stressed the importance of good stockmanship and gentle handling of dairy cows (Geiger, 2013). In his notice to help, he wrote, ‘A man’s usefulness in a herd ceases at once when he loses his temper or bestows rough usage. The giving of milk is a function of motherhood. Rough treatment lessens the flow.’ H.W. Mumford, Professor of Animal Husbandry at the University of Illinois, has also written about the importance of good animal husbandry and stockmanship. In his poem ‘A Tribute to the Stockman’ he wrote, ‘Behold the Stockman! / Artist and Artisan. / … / May his kind multiply and replenish the earth.’ (Garrigus and Garrigus, 1995)

Scientific Validation of the Importance of Good Stockmanship

Both of these people had written about the importance of skilled stock people before scientific studies proved that people who practise good stockmanship will have more productive animals. Three early studies showed the benefits of good stockmanship to improve productivity of pigs, cows and chickens (Hemsworth et al., 1986, 1994, 1999). Seabrook (1984) found that the personality of the stockperson influenced production. The confident introvert had the most productive dairy cows (Reid, 1977). Stock people who had the highest-producing dairy cows had cows that would approach them for stroking (Seabrook, 1984). Herdsmen who had the highest-producing dairy cows knew every single cow and may well have given them names (Bertenshaw and Rowlinson, 2009). Fulwider et al. (2008) found that dairy cows that were more willing to approach people had lower [better] somatic cell counts. The preferred location to stroke the cow is on the neck (Schmied et al., 2008).

Detrimental Effects of Poor Stockmanship

Hemsworth et al. (1981) found that sows that were afraid of people had lower reproductive performance. Chapter 16 in this volume by Paul Hemsworth will review the many studies that clearly show that aversive treatment of animals, such as slapping, will reduce weight gain and milk production (Hemsworth et al., 2000). A survey of 31 dairies showed that poor handling practices, such as slaps and tail twists, resulted in 16% less milk (Breuer et al., 2000). Table 1.1 clearly shows that aversive handling of dairy cows increases the size of flight zone and cows will be slower to enter the milking centre. Sheep that came from farms with poor, aversive handling practices had lambs that feared all people (Destrez et al., 2013). Other studies have also shown that cattle and pigs can recognize individuals who have treated them badly (Munksgaard et al., 1997; Rushen et al., 1999a, b; Sommavilla et al., 2016). Positive treatment by stock people improves reproductive performance of pigs (Hemsworth et al., 1986). Adult dairy cows can recognize people’s faces (Rybarczyk et al., 2001). Visual cues, such as a particular type of clothing, can be associated with either positive or negative treatment (Rushen et al., 2001; Rybarczyk et al., 2003; Grandin and Johnson, 2005). Research with pigs clearly shows that pigs can recognize individuals with visual or auditory cues (Tanida and Nagano, 1998; Koba and Tanida, 2001; Tallet et al., 2018).

Table 1.1. General response of dairy animals under different handling treatments. (From Seabrook, 1991; Fulwider, 2014)

Action of cow	Pleasant handling	Aversive handling
Mean entry time to milking centre (s/cow)	9.9	16.1
Flight distance (nervousness) (m)	0.5	2.5
Dunging in milking centre (times/h)	3.0	18.2
Free approaches to humans (times/min)	10.2	3.0

Yelling and screaming at cattle is highly stressful (Pajor et al., 2003). South American studies have also shown the detrimental effects of poor handling practices. Cows used for embryo production had 19% less viable embryos when they were handled roughly (Maedo et al., 2011). Lima et al. (2018) found that the elimination of dogs, yelling and electric prods significantly reduced cortisol levels. Research clearly shows the detrimental effects of poor stockmanship and rough handling. Further information may be found in Taylor and Davis, 1998; Rushen et al., 1999 a, b; Waiblinger et al., 2002, 2004, 2006; Hemsworth and Coleman, 2010; Rushen and de Passille, 2015; and Hemsworth et al., 2018).

A Positive Attitude and Liking Animals Is Important

The first step to improving stockmanship is having the right attitude. Attitude precedes ability (Machen and Gill, 2014). A good stockperson teaches the cattle to trust their caregivers (Noffingser et al., 2015). Patience and empathy are important when handling difficult sheep (Burnard et al., 2015). Stock people can be trained to have better attitudes towards animals and welfare (Coleman and Hemsworth, 2014; Pulido et al., 2018). A study in the Philippines with goats showed that stockmanship training improved productivity (Alcedo et al., 2014). Research has also shown that people who like animals and have a positive attitude will have more productive dairy cows and pigs (Kauppinen et al., 2012; Jaaskelainen et al., 2014; Fukasawa et al., 2017). Coleman et al. (2000) and Hemsworth et al. (2002) reported that stock people who liked pigs and dairy cows had more productive animals.

Attitudes about Pain Need to Improve

There is still a need to change people’s beliefs about pain in farm animals (Hemsworth, 2007). When 500 Dutch dairy farmers were surveyed, only 25% believed that cows felt pain (Bruijnis et al., 2013). One of the reasons so few believed that cattle felt pain is that cattle, sheep and other prey species animals will act normally when they know they are being watched, even though they may be feeling pain. The author has observed this behaviour. At a feedlot, I hid in the scale house and watched the behaviour of six-month-old bulls after they had been castrated by banding. One of the animals rolled around on the ground and moaned. When I suddenly came out of the scale house, and he saw me, he jumped up and acted completely normally. It is important that stock people are informed about how cattle and sheep may cover up that they are hurting. If cattle trust the stockperson they may be more likely to exhibit pain symptoms in front of them (Tom Noffingser, personal communication, 2015). Pigs will squeal loudly during castration, but sheep will not vocalize when in pain. In a Canadian survey, there were some producers who thought that the pain of castration was short-term and not important (Spooner et al., 2014). In the same survey, producers stressed the importance of low-stress handling and being opposed to animal neglect (Spooner et al., 2014). Pork producers may have better attitudes about relieving long-term pain from chronic conditions such as lameness or gastrointestinal disease (Ison and Rutherford, 2014).

Equipment and Technology Does Not Replace Stockmanship and Low-stress Handling

I have a saying, when problems on a farm need to be solved, ‘People want the thing more than they want the management.’ I learned this during consulting with hundreds of farms and abattoirs around the world. They want to solve all their problems with a new corral, milking centre, computer or drug. Many managers believe that a single large purchase of new equipment will solve all their problems. Good ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Preface to the 5th Edition
• 1 The Importance of Stockmanship to Maintain High Standards of Handling and Transport of Livestock and Poultry
• 2 Welfare of Transported Animals: Welfare Assessment and Factors Affecting Welfare
• 3 Stress Physiology of Animals during Transport
• 4 The Effects of both Genetics and Previous Experience on Livestock Behaviour, Handling and Temperament
• 5 Behavioural Principles of Handling Beef Cattle and the Design of Corrals, Lairages, Races and Loading Ramps
• 6 Dairy Cattle Handling, Transport and Well-being
• 7 Robotic Milking of Dairy Cows: Behaviour and Welfare
• 8 Handling Cattle Raised in Close Association with People
• 9 Cattle Transport in North America
• 10 Handling and Transport of Cattle and Pigs in South America
• 11 Behavioural Principles of Sheep Handling
• 12 Design of Sheep Yards and Shearing Sheds
• 13 Sheep Transport
• 14 Dogs for Herding and Guarding Livestock
• 15 Goat Handling and Transport
• 16 Behavioural Principles of Pig Handling
• 17 Transport of Pigs
• 18 Transport of Market Pigs: Improvements in Welfareand Economics
• 19 Handling and Transport of Horses
• 20 Deer Handling and Transport
• 21 Poultry Handling and Transport
• 22 Transport of Cattle, Sheep and Other Livestock by Sea and Air
• 23 Principles of Biosecurity during Transport, Handling and Slaughter of Animals
• Index