Effect Of Environmental Factors On Stress Indicating Parameters In Cattle At The Abbatoir

Summary

Farm animals experience various stressful situations, of which slaughter is a particularly sensitive event. Improvement of conditions during slaughter are essential to ensure good animal welfare.We identified potential problem areas through guided interviews with slaughterhouse employees and a situation analysis at a Swiss cattle slaughterhouse. After implementation of improvement measures, data from 503 cattle slaughtered in August 2017 were evaluated with regard to the stress-indicating parameters cortisol content in exsanguination blood and proportion of vocalizing animals compared to data of a former study in 2012.The mean cortisol content (3.50 ug/dl) was uncritical and significantly influenced by the driving person and the day. Whereas the high proportion of vocalizing animals of 19.1% was critical. The behaviour of the driving person was also decisive here.We conclude that employee training is the key to further reducing stress-inducing situations during slaughter.