KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The welfare of animals has improved in the last 50 years.
“Since the 1960s and ’70s there has been real progress. We have seen real growth in our responsibility and in our capacity to look at these issues directly and put some insight into blind spots,” said animal welfare specialist Cassandara Tucker of University of California, Davis.
Her research looked at three areas of concern in the North American livestock industry where producer responsibility and response has heightened. These were presented at the recent North American Meat Institute conference on animal welfare and handling held in Kansas City, Missouri.
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- Painful procedures: Landmark research has been carried out by Agriculture Canada’s Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein and others on the pain suffered from branding.
“They clearly showed this procedure is painful,” she said.
Tucker wanted to go further and discern how long the pain lasts after receiving a hot iron or freeze brand.
A brand leaves a third-degree burn that eventually heals over. Her team monitored a group of branded calves for 10 weeks. By the end of the monitoring period about half the animals were fully healed.
Using a special device that applies pressure on the animal’s side, they watched to see how long it takes for the animal to respond by moving away or show other indications of discomfort. The work showed the brand remains painful for up to 10 weeks.
While some jurisdictions require brands for identification, modern consumers may reject that. With advances in technology, some might question the need to use a third-degree burn to identify animals.
- Performing natural behaviours: Natural behaviour and cattle feeding showed animals will make choices.
Cattle on pasture may graze for nine to 13 hours on a high-fibre diet.
Feedlot cattle spend one to 2.5 hours per day eating a low-fibre, high-concentrate diet. They grow well and seem to prefer grain to fibre.
“Feeding these high-concentrate diets can result in acidosis where the pH in the rumen can cause infection,” she said.
If there is more fibre in the diet, the animal chews more and produces more saliva to ease acid in the rumen.
A recent slaughter audit of 13,000 carcasses showed 30 percent had some degree of liver abscess.
In her research, Tucker offered a choice to cattle. One group had a hay diet while a second group received an 88 percent concentrate diet and a second bunk where they had to push open a gate to get hay from a feed bunk. Weight was added to the gate to see how willing they were to push it open.
As the weight on the gate increased, those fed a higher fibre diet became less eager to eat additional hay. Those on the high-concentrate diet continued to push the gate open even as it became heavier.
Five freedoms
The five freedoms were developed as a core concept in animal welfare by groups around the world:
- freedom from thirst, hunger, malnutrition
- freedom from discomfort
- freedom from pain, injury and disease
- freedom to express normal behaviour
- freedom from fear and distress
“This matters to the animals. Having that access to that hay is important to them. I don’t know why it is important to them,” she said.
It could be novelty or the need to reduce acid in the stomach by adding some buffering fibre.
Some feedlots have increased the percentage of fibre in the diet to reduce antimicrobial use rather than use medication to treat acidosis. In the future, liver abscesses may be included as an outcome in feedlot welfare audits.
- Compromised cattle: Chronic lameness is an issue for dairy and fed cattle.
“We know from an animal welfare concern, this is painful,” Tucker said.
Pain relief can help them walk better and stand more but it is not the best approach.
Emaciation is another serious issue.
“Many parties are involved in this issue of compromised cattle,” she said.
The animals may not be seen or identified right away or producers are reluctant to euthanize them.
“People see euthanasia as giving up on the animal rather than the compassion that comes with putting the animal out of its misery,” she said.
The best case scenario is where producers euthanize on farm. Haulers should not load compromised animals, and auctions and packers should not accept them.
