• Proper livestock handling is extremely important to meat packers for obvious ethical reasons. Once livestock arrive at packing plants, proper handling procedures are not only important for the animal's well-being, but can also mean the difference between profits and losses due to meat quality or worker safety. The Humane Slaughter Act of 1978 dictates strict animal handling and slaughtering standards for packing plants. Those standards are monitored by some 7,000 federal meat inspectors nation-wide. The meat packing industry takes these standards very seriously.
• For the best results in animal handling, plant management must make proper handling and stunning a high priority. Top management must play an active role. Plants with the best handling and stunning practices have managers who closely monitor stunning and handling practices. Employees handling hundreds of animals day after day, sometimes need reminders from management that animals must always be handled carefully.
• Healthy animals, properly handled, keep the meat industry running safely, efficiently and profitably.

Stressful Pre-Slaughter Handling

There have been numerous research studies on stunning methods, but until recently, stress and discomfort during a lairage and movement of the animals to the stunning point was neglected.

Distractions that Impede Animal Movement

Animals will often balk and stop moving through a handling system if there are distractions such as sparkling reflections, air blowing towards the animals, movement or high pitched noise.

Lack of Employee Training

Maintaining a high standard of welfare requires constant management attention and vigilance.

Poor Equipment Maintenance

The two major maintenance problem areas that the author has observed are poor captive bolt stunner maintenance, and slick floors.

Poor Condition of the Animals Arriving at the Plant

A recent survey of U.S. cow and bull slaughter plants indicated that 1% of the cull beef cows and 1.1% of the cull dairy cows arrive downed and unable to walk (Colorado State University, 1995). Most of these animals were in bad condition before they left the farm.

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