Dr. Temple Grandin Books

Lowering Stress to Improve Meat Quality and Animal Welfare

Gentle handling in well-designed facilities will minimize stress levels, improve efficiency and maintain good meat quality. Rough handling or poorly designed equipment is detrimental to both animal welfare and meat quality. Progressive slaughter plant managers recognize the importance of good handling practices. Constant management supervision is required to maintain high humane standards.

Every extra handling procedure causes increased stress and bruising. Elimination of unnecessary procedures at the slaughter plant will also reduce stress.

Restraint of Livestock

During twenty five years of work on livestock handling and design of restraining devices for animals, I have observed that many people attempt to restrain animals with sheer force instead of using behavioural principles. Improvements in the design of restraining devices enhances animal welfare and will reduce stress and injuries. A series of surveys conducted by the author showed that changing the design of a squeeze chute would reduce injuries to cattle (Grandin 1975). Squeeze chute design has improved. Some of the newer headgate designs may further reduce injuries. The pressure relief valve on a hydraulic chute must be set correctly. An animal restrained in a squeeze chute should be able to breath normally without straining. Under the best conditions, cattle can become bruised or injured in a conventional squeeze chute. A survey of seven major feedlots by Brown et al (1981) indicated that in five of the feedlots 1.6% to 7.8% of the animals were bruised. Even though bruises would heal by marketing time, pain and trauma may reduce weight gain. Research done by Bridget Voisinet at Colorado State University has shown that cattle that become excited and agitated in a squeeze chute will have lower weight gains and are more likely to have dark cutting meat and tougher meat. Cattle can become asphyxiated by excessive pressure on the carotid arteries. In a standard hydraulic stanchion squeeze chute used in most commercial feedyards an inexperienced operator can cause 2% of the cattle to collapse from pressure on the carotid arteries (Grandin 1980). A collapsed animal will die if the operator fails to release it immediately. Excessive hydraulic pressure can cause severe injuries. The animal's diaphragm can be ruptured (Fulton, R. 1973 personal communication). Excessive pressure can break the pelvis (Miles, D. 1992 personal communication). The author has also observed that excessive squeeze pressure can cause a significant reduction in weight gain. Good management can prevent many of these problems but there is still a great need for improved restraint devices for use on ranches and feedlots. I did not realize how poor existing chutes in feedlots were until I developed restraint devices for calf and beef slaughter plants. Quiet handling of cattle will reduce stress and injuries in squeeze chutes. Excited animals are more difficult to handle. It takes up to 30 minutes for an excited animal to calm down. To keep animals calm in a restraint device they must be calm when they enter it. Cattle should walk into a squeeze chute and walk out of it. Feedlot operators have found that calm handling of cattle in squeeze chutes will enable cattle to go back on feed more quickly.

Over the years I have designed several different types of cattle restraint devices for use in meat packing plants. During the course of developing these devices I have learned that the use of behavioural principles will keep both cattle and pigs calm. Many of these ideas could be incorporated into new designs for cattle restraining devices for the ranch farm or feedlot.

Livestock Handling Systems, Cattle Corrals, Stockyards, and Races

This section of Grandin.Com contains drawings of cattle corral designs with curved races. Curved cattle chutes are more efficient for handling cattle because they take advantage of the natural behavior of cattle. Cattle move through curved races more easily because they have a natural tendency to go back to where they came from. In the computer aided drawing section there are layout drawings of cattle yard designs for both large and small ranches and feedlots. There are also drawings of a cattle loading ramp for trucks, diagonal stockyard pens for cattle, and detail drawings of a single file race and cattle dip vat. If you are planning to build new corrals or other cattle handling facilites you can download blueprints of cattle pen layouts that will reduce stress on cattle and improve handling efficiency.


Handling Facility Layout Rules:
The crowd pen must always be level.
If the system includes a ramp, it should be located within the single file chute.
An animal standing in the crowd pen must be able to see 2 to 3 body lengths up the single file chute before it curves. This will facilitate entry into the chute.