REGINA – There are lots of little things people can do to reduce handling stress in their livestock, says an American livestock handling specialist.
Temple Grandin, of Colorado State University, said the design and details of facilities play a big role in how livestock are treated and how they behave.
Animals often balk at things that seem inconsequential to people.
The difference could be as simple as removing a small chain hanging in the animals’ line of vision, tightening a wiggling gate or directing a lamp away from a wet floor to avoid reflections.
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Or, it could mean redesigning an entire facility to make it work properly. For example, Grandin’s curved handling facility prevents cattle from seeing people or a loading truck ahead. Gates can be rigged to be opened by a handler standing behind the cattle.
Fear is strong
“Details are very important,” she said. “Fear is a tremendously strong stressor. In wild cattle fear stress is almost as bad as branding stress.”
Grandin said she has seen animals refuse to enter stunning boxes or conveyor restrainers that are dark or where the ventilation system is blowing the slaughter smell toward them.
“Lighting is very critical,” she said. Lamps must be aimed away from approaching animals to light up the restrainer entrance, not aimed directly in their faces.
Ventilation systems can easily be fixed to muffle noise, she said. But even changes in wind direction can cause smells to blow back in animals’ faces, meaning they may enter calmly one day, but not the next
Grandin said cattle and sheep are more sensitive to high frequency sounds than humans, and will often balk at the whine of a hydraulic pump on a squeeze chute. However, low-frequency sound like the rumbling of a conveyor doesn’t seem to bother them.
Grandin also said painting facilities a single color will help move livestock.
