Influence of gentle touching applied few weeks before slaughter on avoidance distance and slaughter stress in finishing cattle

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Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of gentle touching applied during the last 5 weeks before slaughter in finishing cattle on behaviour towards humans, stress indicators and beef quality. Three experiments were carried out. Experiments 1, 2 and 3 employed eight Limousin crossbred bulls, eight Piemontese crossbreds (six females, two steers) and ten Limousin crossbreds (three females, seven steers), respectively. In each experiment, half of the animals were equally assigned to a treatment and a control group, respectively. The treatment consisted in a standardised gentle head-neck-region touching and started 5 weeks before slaughter and was continued once a week in experiments 1 and 2 and twice a week in experiment 3 during the following 5 weeks. Avoidance distance tests (ADT) were performed two times in each experiment, once before the treatments started and a second time after handling treatments had ended. Blood samples were taken during exsanguination and concentrations of cortisol, lactate and glucose were analysed. In samples of the Musculus longissimus dorsi, meat colour, cooking loss and shear force were determined. Across all experiments, avoidance distances in treatment animals were reduced after treatment application compared to control animals (interaction of ADT number × treatment: F1,24 = 18.33, P < 0.001). Gentle touching did not affect cortisol or glucose concentrations in exsanguination blood (F1,22 = 2.28, P > 0.1). However, lactate concentrations in exsanguination blood tended to be lower in treated than in control animals (F1,22 = 3.47, P = 0.075). There was no treatment effect on either cooking loss (F1,22 = 1.10, P > 0.1), or meat colour (L*: F1,22 = 0.09, P > 0.1; a*: F1,22 = 0.05, P > 0.1; b*: F1,22 = 1.74, P > 0.1), or shear force (F1,22 = 0.02, P > 0.1). In conclusion, gentle treatment in the period before slaughter resulted in decreased avoidance distance towards humans and in a slight reduction of stress at slaughter as indicated by the trend in lower lactate concentrations in exsanguination blood. However, this late-life treatment was less efficient in improving meat quality different from what had been shown for early-life gentle touching.

Introduction

On suckler beef farms and other operations that raise meat livestock, contacts between humans and animals are rare and often include management routines that may be perceived by the animals as displeasing or painful. These management practices consist in vaccinations, ear tagging, castrations, dehorning, claw care, and transport (Lewis and Hurnik, 1998). Cattle may then develop fear of humans that can reduce animal welfare and productivity (Hemsworth and Coleman, 1998, Raussi, 2003). Raising calves with their dams in a pasture-based suckler beef system allows species-specific behaviour to a great extent, but the lacking human–animal-relationship may result in skittish animals. Cattle raised in such a system are afraid of direct contact to people and hence difficult to handle, creating a safety risk for their handlers and for themselves (De Passillé et al., 1996, Grandin, 1993). Excitable temperament of individual animals may cause specific handling and management problems (Grandin, 1993).

Situations particularly unfamiliar to the animals such as transport, pre-slaughter treatment and handling at the abattoir can be extremely stressful for beef cattle (Grandin, 1997) and may cause a decrease in meat quality. Pre-slaughter stress can increase shear force (Wulf et al., 2002), decrease flavour and juiciness (Hemsworth et al., 2011), increase cooking losses (Lahucky et al., 1998), and may cause a higher incidence of stress-related meat quality problems such as dark cutting beef (Grandin, 1990, Wulf et al., 2002). Reasons for that include stress-related adrenergic processes (Shaw and Tume, 1992) leading to the release of catecholamines and corticosteroids. Cortisol is one of the most important corticosteroids and therefore a useful indicator of short-term stress in cattle (Boissy and Le Neindre, 1997). Additionally, increased lactate concentrations and increased glucose levels in exsanguination blood are the result of excessive muscle activity and a faster glycogenolysis because of catecholamine and cortisol release (Leroy et al., 2011, Shaw and Tume, 1992). Elevated lactate concentrations have been associated with more stress indicating behaviour at the abattoir and with a higher shear force of the meat (Gruber et al., 2010).

There is an on-going intensive research on how to cope with the stress-related problems around slaughter of cattle not familiar with human contact. One promising attempt is offering gentle contacts which can have positive effects on ease of handling (Boivin et al., 1994, Waiblinger et al., 2004) and reduce fear of humans (Lensink et al., 2000). A recent study showed that it is possible to reduce stress and improve beef quality by gently handling suckler beef calves early in their life (Probst et al., 2012). However, cattle are often finished at farms other than those from where they originate, where positive gentle handling was rarely applied in early life. It is therefore an open question whether gentle handling in the period before slaughter may have a similar positive effect in terms of avoidance distance on farm, slaughter stress, and meat quality.

The aim of our study was to investigate stress related parameters in finishing beef cattle with different rearing backgrounds after gentle treatments during the last 5 weeks before slaughter. Variables measured included avoidance distance on farm as a sign of fear of humans, stress indicators at the abattoir, and meat quality.

Section snippets

Experimental design

Three experiments on two different farms were carried out. In all experiments, the animals had been accustomed to one or two stockpersons and to ordinary human contact, but they had not been touched or stroked regularly. In all experiments, the same person applied the touching treatments and a second person conducted the avoidance distance tests (ADT). At the day of slaughter, all animals received free access to water and their usual feed before loading. All animals were slaughtered at the same

Results and discussion

The present study tested the hypothesis that gentle and standardised tactile treatments, implemented in the last few weeks before slaughter are beneficial for behaviour of finishing cattle towards humans on farm and finally will result in decreased stress responses at the abattoir and a higher meat quality.

Conclusions

The present study shows that gentle treatment shortly before slaughter reduces avoidance distance in finishing cattle of different genotypes, rearing background, and age. Such treatment seems to slightly reduce stress at slaughter as indicated by a trend towards lower lactate levels. In addition, animals showing less fear of humans are easier to handle which is an important practical benefit. Together with a reduced stress reaction at the abattoir gentle treatment affects animal welfare

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Swiss foundations Philanthropia, Lausanne, and Sur la Croix, Basel, Switzerland. The authors are grateful to the animal caretakers of Strickhof, Lindau-Eschikon, Switzerland, and to the family Böhler, Oberer Berghof, Mellikon, Switzerland, for allowing using their animals and for the perfect support during the experiments. We sincerely thank the slaughterhouse SBAG, St. Gallen, Switzerland, for the very good cooperation and Micarna, Zurich, Switzerland, for the

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