MAIN ANIMAL WELFARE PROBLEMS IN LIVESTOCK DURING PRESLAUGHTER OPERATIONS: A LATIN AMERICAN VIEW Carmen Gallo S., MV, PhD Animal Science Institute-Animal Welfare Programme Faculty of Veterinary Science Universidad Austral de Chile OIE Collaborating Centre for AW and Livestock Production Systems Chile-Uruguay- México September2014 Clermont Ferrand, FRANCE
OIE Collaborating Centre for AW and livestock production systems Main goal: to promote AW with particular emphasis in production and working animals under american production systems. Stella Maris Huertas Canén, DMTV, MSc.* Universidad de la República O. Uruguay Facultad de Veterinaria stellamaris32@hotmail.com www.bienestaranimal.org.uy Carmen B. Gallo Stegmaier, MV, PhD Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile cgallo@uach.cl www.bienestaranimal.cl Francisco Galindo-Maldonado, MV, PhD Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) galindof@unam.mx
Latin America
Ruminant production systems
El TRANSPORTE ES UN PROCESO Livestock market Preslaughter handling Unloading Loading Transport Slaughterhouse Farm Stunning
Effects of preslaughter handling on AW and meat quality 12 10 Mortality and lesions Live/carcass weight losses Bruising Meat quality (ph, colour) 8 6 4 2 0 3 h 6 h 12 h 24 h Oto-Inv Prim-Ver Changes in physiological indicators Changes in behaviour (animals/handlers)
Identification of research groups working in animal welfare-2009 México Venezuela Colombia Bolivia Main areas: transport and slaughter for consumption-meat quality,dairy cattle welfare, behaviourtemperament-handling, training and education in AW Brasil Species: cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, horses, camelids, companion Santiago Argentina
PROBLEM: inadequate infrastructure and handling Infrastructure Animals and behaviour People. Not trained
PROBLEM: Negative Human - Animal interactions in livestock markets 40 workers in 3 markets, Hitting hard with driving aids (DA): 67,5% Poking with sticks: 82,5% Twisting the tail: 2,5% Kicking: 0% Hitting or pulling from sensible Parts of body: 90% Others (pushing, throwing water): 62,5% (Maaike de Vries, 2010)
PROBLEM : bad AW, more bruises, more dark cutting in cattle proceeding from markets than directly from farms (Sandoval, 2007; Strappini y col, 2009, Heim, 2010; Herrera y col 2012) Percentage of carcasses with bruises according to origin of cattle:market or farm (Sandoval 2007) TYPE OF CATTLE MARKET Steers 11,9 8,0 FARM Heifers 17,6 10,2 Cows 25,5 14,3 Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias Programa Bienestar Animal Universidad Austral de Chile 2014.
Experimental evaluation of AW indicators before and after training animal handlers in a slaughterhouse (Altamirano, Uribe, Gallo 2004) Indicators GOAL Before After Application of electric goad 25% 92,9% 57,6% Animals slipping Animals that fell 3% 1% 25,4% 9% 6,37% 2,97% Animales que mugieron 3% 40,1% 12,08%
ACTIONS TAKEN: Training of animal handlers
PROBLEM: long distance/duration of transport in cattle and sheep Duration: up to 5 days, common 24-48 h Should be more specialized (Gallo 2008; Gallo and Tadich, 2008; )
PROBLEM: long distance transportation of recently weaned calves for fattening Losses per 200 kg calf (value= 300 euros): Transport costs 0,2 euros/kg = 20 Mortality 1% (2kg x 2 euro/kg) = 4 Live weight loss 10-14% = 30 Recuperation cost at destiny= 21 (30 d x 0,7 euro/d) TOTAL (25%) 75 Not considered: Mortality after transport (Pasteurella), other veterinary costs
PROBLEM: high stocking densities during transport of cattle (Chile up to 500 kg/m 2) (Gallo, Warriss, Knowles, Negrón, Valdés, Mencarini 2005) 50 50 40 40 30 30 R.Metropolitana 20 X Región 20 10 10 0 100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0 700.0 Frecuencia 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Densidad (kg/m 2 Frecuencia ) Densidad (kg/m 2 ) (kg/ms) Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias Programa g/m2) Bienestar Animal Universidad Austral de Chile, 2013.
PROBLEMS during transport of sheep Additional stress: long walks from fields to corrals (several kms) and weaning immediately before loading (Tadich et al, 2009) Duration: regional transport usually between 1 and 10 h, extrarregional transport from Aysén, 49 a 75 h (Mera, 2009) Space availability: 0,14 0,24 m²/lamb (28 to 30kg) (Strappini et al, 2006; Tarumán and Gallo, 2008, Mera, 2009) -
TRANSPORT OF SHEEP:
ACTIONS: video recording of behaviour and relation with bruising
ACTIONS: behaviour through video recording, meat quality (Strappini y col 2012, 2013; Vargas y col 2012
When and where were the potentially traumatic events caused. (Strappini et al, 2012, 2013) 18-24 h 23.0% >24 h 13.5% 0-1h 38.5% Unloading 7.7% Transport 9.6% Lairage 23.1% Stunning box 36.5% A 2-16 h 25.0% B Loading 23.1%
How were the events caused. (Strappini et al, 2012, 2013)
PROBLEM: long lairage time, negative effect on AW and meat quality, Carcass weight (kg) (Tadich et al, 2000, 2002, Gallo, Lizondo, Knowles, 2003) 240 6.3 238 3 Hours 6.2 16 Hours 6.1 236 6 234 232 ph 5.9 5.8 230 228 5.7 5.6 5.5 3 Hours 16 Hours 226 0 5 10 15 20 25 Lairage Time (hr) 5.4 0 5 10 15 20 25 Lairage Time (hr) Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias Programa Bienestar Animal Universidad Austral de Chile, 2013.
ACTIONS: video recording of behaviour during lairage time
Resting and standing behaviour during lairage Steers with long (24 h, blue, TP) and short (4 h red, TC) previous transport (Estrada y col 2012)
Agonistic behaviours during lairage Steers with long (blue, TP) and short (red, TC) previous transport (Estrada y col 2012) Hitting with horns Mounting
It is necessary to have local research.. Camelids arriving at a slaughterhouse no ramp Mamani and Gallo 2014 Cebu cattle arriving dead. Long lairage times.. Ramírez and Gallo 2012
SLAUGHTERHOUSES: there have been improvements in structure and training of personnell
PROBLEM: low efficacy of stunning process in cattle ( Gallo, Teuber, Grandin,2003) Nº shots required to fall 2000 Diagn 2002 After changes in infrastr & equipment 2002 After changes plus training of handlers n=335 n=500 n=500 GOAL 1 72.8 89.6 97.8 95.0 % 2 18.5 8.8 2.0 5.0 % 3 3.3 1.6 0.2 0 % 4 3.3 0 0 0 % >=5 2.1 0 0 0 % Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias Programa Bienestar Animal Universidad Austral de Chile, 2012.
RESULTS using Grandin s methodology Percentage of cattle with presence of signs indicators of sensibility after stunning in 6 slaughterplants (Chile) (Gallo et al 2010) Percentage of animals with signs of sensibility 2006 2010 Rythmic breathing 4,2% 0,50% Eye movements 3,1% 0,50% Corneal reflex 1,1% 0,33% Righting reflex 22,7% 0% Reincorporation 0,3% 0% Vocalizaction 0,1% 0% Máx acceptable 0,2% (en total) Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias Programa Bienestar Animal Universidad Austral de Chile, 2010.
PROBLEM: now stunning boxes have devices for restriction of body movements.
SUMMARY Producers Transporters Markets Slaughterhouse personel Competent Authority We have to train animal handlers and to change mentality : animals are sentient beings and the way we treat them will make a difference in AW and also in product quality When training people we have to show them results (indicators) obtained under local conditions of each country We need more local research to support legislation
Thank you!