Animal Welfare: Transport and Slaughter

Animal Welfare and Protection: Transport and Slaughter

• The material covers good welfare practices during transport and slaughter, evaluating relevant legislation and recent measures.

The Necessity of Transporting Animals

• Animals are transported to and from markets.
• Transport is required for slaughter, import/export, private sales, breeding purposes, and shows/competitions

Welfare Concerns During Transport

• Poor transport conditions cause animal suffering and economic losses for farmers/abattoirs.
• Economic losses are connected to; animal death from poor conditions, injuries, dehydration, disease, and reduced meat quality from chronic stress.
• The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), representing around 178 countries, set standards for humane livestock transport by land and sea.
• Not all member countries were aware of these standards in 2008.

Areas of Welfare Concern During Transportation

• Focus is placed on good feeding, housing, health, and appropriate behaviour during transport.
• Animals should not suffer prolonged hunger/thirst and have comfort while resting.
• Enough space for movement and thermal comfort are important.
• Animals should be free from injury/disease and avoid pain caused by procedures.
• Transportation should promote a positive emotional state, normal social/species-typical behaviours, and good human-animal relationships.

Core Tenets of Transport Welfare

• Pre-transport handling includes collecting animals and managing their food/water intake.
• Loading methods depend on farm facilities, vehicle design, and handler experience.
• The journey begins once animals are loaded.
• Multiple indicators, either resource or animal-based, should be monitored.

Resource-Based Indicators

• Monitoring of stocking density and vehicle design is needed.
• Journey duration, personnel training, and inspection before loading are key.
• Loading/unloading and the journey plan should be considered.
• The driving method and time of day can affect welfare.
• Living condition quality affects the systems used.
• Multiple stressors can interact during transport.
• Differences exist within and between species.
• Measures should diagnose the causes of poor welfare, and advise farmers to improve animal welfare.

Impact of Driving on Welfare

• Livestock are commonly transported by road, making animal welfare dependent on; journey distance/duration, vehicle type, driver skill, and road surface.
• Around 80% of balance loss occurs during cornering/braking.
• Overloaded trucks led to 88% more cattle falling.

Loading and Handling

• Using walking methods can aid moving animals in pens.

Poultry Specifics

• Lairage and loading increase breast blister prevalence in broilers.
• Increased transport time raises the number of dead on arrival (DOA).

Airflow and Ventilation

• Adequate ventilation comes from increasing space allowance

Ventilation Needs

• Ventilation during loading and transport is necessary.
• It should remove excessive heat, humidity, and noxious fumes (ammonia, carbon monoxide) while preventing carbon dioxide/ammonia build-up.
• Ventilation is needed for convective cooling in warm/hot conditions.

Stocking Density Guidelines

• Considerations must be made for animal class (steers, bulls, cows, heifers), size/body condition, plus presence of horns
• Climatic conditions during the journey, its nature/duration, and road conditions will affect stocking density.
• Design and stock crate condition are influential, and provision of bedding is needed.

Improving Welfare

• Skilled staff who are well trained need to catch and load livestock.
• The transport vehicle must have adequate space and climate control.
• Lairage at unloading should be avoided so that transport arrives just in time.

General Principles of Improvement

• Incorporate welfare inputs and incentivize good practices alongside penalties for poor welfare - welfare audits and economic/legal action.
• Preparations should be made for handling and loading, handling facilities, the design of vehicles, driving, plus road/weather conditions, along with genetics and past experience.

Handling Facility Principles

• Minimise fear includes; designing around species sight/hearing/group behaviour plus avoiding dark/light contrasts and other distractions.
• Move down curved walkways and have non-slip floors (scored concrete, rubber mats)
• Note that animals may have sore feet (pigs on slats), weak muscles/joints (old cows, large bee animals/pigs).

Animal-Based Indicators

• Consider mortality, injuries, and meat quality.
• Also, look at behavioural changes and physiological indicators i.e stress levels.
• Resource-based Indicators guarantee results/life quality and are closely linked to animal welfare, but can be difficult to use.
• Measures should ensure preferred animal welfare

Animal-Based Signs

• Unfit animals are more likely to become downers during transport.
• Check for breathing, heartbeat, corneal reflex, trampling, suffocation, dehydration, bloat, exhaustion, and heat stroke.
• Sickness and inability to walk are further indicators.

Lesions During Transport

• Lesions can result from competition for resources/space, overcrowding, and caused by other animals.
• Fighting or mounting during loading, along with handling methods, can also result in lesions.
• Trampling and electric prods can result in the most damage.

Factors in Lesions

• A variety of external factors are directly related to lesions during transport
• Inappropriate designs and handling should be avoided.

Alternatives

• Alternatives should be used to ensure better welfare in transport

Degrees of Injury in Pigs

• Injury is variable and can include slight or severe blemishes, which increase welfare concerns.

Lesions in Cattle

• Rough treatment of animals and animals slipping or falling cause lesions and worsen conditions.

Poultry Welfare

• Breast bruises increase when broilers are restricted to sternal recumbency.
• Hens prefer cages with vertical space.

Dead on Arrival (DOA) in Broilers

• Typically 0.2-0.3%
• Depends on effective temperature and transport duration.
• Increases after 4 hours of transport.

pH changes

• Muscle pH changes during slaughter affect meat quality.
• When animals are slaughtered, blood circulation stops and anaerobiosis begins due to the utilisation of stored glycogen and production of lactic acid, causing a drop in pH.
• Dark Firm Dry (DFD) meat results from glycogen depletion before slaughter due to long fasting periods, endless transports, and waiting times.
• Pale Soft Exudative (PSE) meat results from overexertion if animals are not rested well.

Behavioural changes

• These are mainly related to loading and unloading
• Assess for panting, increased agonistic behaviour, suppressed feeding, abnormal postures, or increased urination/defecation.

Turkeys

• Turkeys typically lie down during transport.
• These will frequently stand to change position while in home pens for night rest.

Incentives, Penalties, Audits

• Welfare is measured on farm and during transport to the abattoir.
• Items to assess % of lame, thing, or dirty animals alongside sores, bruises, deaths, morbidity (illness or injury) and % of birds with broken wings or legs.

Audits vs Legislation

• Audits using standards are more effective than legal enforcement.
• Prohibited practices include; dropping, throwing, crushing/breaking tails, pulling ears, and lifting/dragging by parts like tail, head, horns, ears, limbs, etc.

Animals Unfit for Transport

• These include sick, injured, weak, disabled or fatigued animals.
• Animals who cannot stand unaided, bear weight on each leg, or are blind should be excluded.
• Extra criteria include; being very large/obese or very young/old.
• No excitable or aggressive individuals or pregnant females in their last trimester.
• Animals unused to humans, in heavy lactation, or intended to be culled should not be transported

Areas to Improve

• The Commission adopted a regulation proposal, on 7th December 2023, to protect animals during transport.
• The replacement council focuses on problems that affect animal welfare linked to long journeys and repetitive loading.
• Further focuses should be placed on; ensuring animals have greater space, improving conditions for vulnerable animals, plus avoiding extreme temperatures
• Enforcement of EU rules in animal protection should be undertaken via digitalization and better protocols to protect animals exported to non-EU countries.