There is beef industry confusion about the correct weight for safely shipping cattle.
Cargill Foods’ packing plant in High River, Alta., recently penalized truckers and producers whose tri-axle trucks were loaded with more than 65,000 pounds of cattle.
Aaron Fehlauer, a senior cattle buyer at Cargill, said the policy was implemented in September after a Canadian Food Inspection Agency veterinarian reported that trucks coming into the Cargill plant were too crowded.
“Now that CFIA has got involved, anything over 67,000 lb. gross weight constitutes the inhumane treatment of animals,” Fehlauer said.
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However, Cargill’s new policy is based on a 65,000 lb. limit that the federal transportation department has put on most tri-axles trucks. Fehlauer said it is an attempt to please both regulatory agencies.
“We’re not claiming the program is solely a humane treatment issue, but we also want to show we’re not encouraging anything illegal for the department of transportation,” said Fehlauer, who added the new program is increasing the company’s trucking costs.
Peggy Strankman, manager of environmental affairs with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said there is no correlation between legal highway load weights and CFIA guidelines that spell out the correct number of cattle that can be humanely hauled in a truck.
“We were concerned that perhaps CFIA was correlating humane density with highway truck weight, which should not be the case,” said Strankman.
Factor in the weight and size of cattle and the confusion continues. Strankman said if truckers are loading 1,400 lb. steers onto a trailer, the legal load weight limit will likely be reached before overcrowding occurs. However, if small calves are being loaded, overcrowding can easily occur before the payload weight is reached.
If in doubt, truck drivers and federal officials can fall back on the Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals – Transportation, which was revised in 2001.
But Strankman doesn’t believe its recommendations for the humane transport of animals are correct either.
“The current numbers being used by CFIA that show up in that transport code do not reflect good industry practice,” said Strankman, although the CCA did approve the code’s guidelines before they were released.
“Whether you agree or disagree that axle weights equate to inhumane treatment of cattle doesn’t matter,” said Fehlauer, whose company does not want to get into a fight with federal officials over the issue. Nor does he want to compile a long list of infractions for inhumane treatment of cattle that would reflect badly on the company.
The confusion doesn’t surprise Susan Church, manager of the Alberta Farm Animal Care Association. She said the association flagged loading density as a concern 10 years ago.
“We noted there were significant differences between provincial regulations and what the codes of practice state,” said Church, whose organization released a report on livestock transportation in 1994 and again in 2002, highlighting problems with stocking densities.
Cargill has sent a letter to the industry explaining its new policy, sparking a flurry of calls to the AFAC office for information on stocking density rules.
Martin Appelt, humane transportation specialist with CFIA in Ottawa, said that while the regulations do not give a specific loading density, they do say it is illegal to overcrowd animals.
The problem seems to have increased with BSE, he added. With a line up to get cattle into slaughter plants, cattle are leaving farms and feedlots heavier and larger.
“Truckers are truckers, and if they always loaded 44 of those animals on their trailer, they would have continued doing that because that’s what they always did. Now (the animals) are heavier and they are larger and they run into trouble,” Appelt said.
While an acceptable limit regarding overcrowding may be unclear, he said judges use the code of practice when making a legal decision.
“In cases gone to court, this was the accepted line.”
Delegates at the recent Alberta Beef Producers annual meeting passed a resolution requesting a re-evaluation of current livestock transportation rules. They questioned whether the current guideline based on weight takes into account the type or size of cattle going onto a truck.
“If you use a weight criteria, it doesn’t mean it is a humane way of loading,” said delegate Gordon Graves.
Manitoba Agriculture veterinarian Terry Whiting said research he did for a November 2000 article in the Canadian Veterinary Journal showed the Canadian Code of Practice is consistent with worldwide standards of livestock handling.
“What’s published in the code of practice, the scientific community agrees is right.”
The code doesn’t say a specific number of cattle are allowed in a specific trailer size. Instead, it is based on pounds of live animals per sq. foot because it’s easy to calculate with a quick measurement of the truck and the weight of cattle.
“The code was written for the inspectors to establish compliance,” said Whiting, who admitted communicating this to farmers is a problem. They want to know animal numbers, not pounds per truck size.
“I believe the guidelines are completely appropriate.”
Reality is the grey area.
“If you’re only travelling 40 miles and you need to put these two extra cows on or get another truck, there’s a huge incentive to put the two extra cows on.”
As well, Strankman said standards used by other countries may not reflect the reality of Canadian conditions, where roads are better and most cattle transport trucks have air suspension. The CCA needs to gather scientific data to help change the codes to reflect reality, she added.
“We know our guys are moving cattle well. We know those numbers are different than the numbers showing up in the transport code.”
Tim O’Byrne, a livestock transportation specialist in Nevada, said shipping rules are complicated. Loading cattle isn’t as simple as dividing the number of cattle into the square footage of the trailer. The truck driver has to use a combination of factors, including axles, distance between axles and several other calculations to figure out what can be properly hauled. The CFIA requirements for proper loading densities add to the juggling act.
“That’s where the conflict lies,” said O’Byrne, who added it’s amazing how well truck drivers can balance the two rules and still haul cattle safely and humanely.
“By and large, 99 percent of cattle haulers out there are doing a terrific job for us. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the professional livestock haulers. They go through an unbelievable amount of stress to get the job done.”
