• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.2000-2007
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• 2024

Objective: The livestock handler attitude and their handling of animals is crucial for improving animal welfare standards, minimizing stress, improving productivity and meat quality. The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of training livestock handlers on behavioral, physiological, and hormonal responses during preslaughter handling in goats. Methods: A total of 6 handlers were divided into trained (trained in basic animal handling practices, animal behavior, and animal welfare), contact trained (not trained directly but interacted and saw the working of trained handlers), and untrained groups (no formal training). The handling experiment was conducted on 18 male goats by following a crossover design. The goats were moved from lairage to slaughter point by trained, contact-trained, and untrained handlers. Various behavioral, physiological, and hormonal parameters were recorded at the lairage before handling and at the slaughter point after handling the goats. Results: The training of livestock handlers had a significant effect on behavioral, physiological, and hormonal responses in goats. The goats handled by untrained and contact-trained handlers were recorded with intense vocalization, significant (p<0.05) increase in heart rate and blood glucose, and catecholamines (adrenaline and nor-adrenaline), thereby indicating stress and poor animal welfare. The trained handlers were observed to use visual interactions (waving of hands or objects, blocking, hand raising, etc), and lower stress responses were recorded in the goats handled by this group. Conclusion: The present study highlights the importance of training to livestock handlers in improving animal welfare and minimizing stress in goats during pre-slaughter stress.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.244-252
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• 1999

Intensive selection for muscle development and against fat deposition in pigs during the last 50 years has contributed to the increased incidence of porcine stress syndrome (PSS) and pale soft exudative pork (PSE). Genetics, nutrition and management, preslaughter animal handling, stunning, dehairing and carcass chilling influence the incidence and magnitude of the PSE condition. The normal incidence of PSE has been reported to range from 10 to 30%, but in some isolated instances is up to 60%. The elimination of halothane-positive pigs in breeding programs has reduced PSS and PSE. Further improvements in meat quality by terminal sire evaluation and selection can be achieved within halothane-negative populations because around 20% of the variation in meat color and water binding capacity seems to be genetically related. Pre-slaughter handling on the farm, during transit to the packing plant and at the packing plant can greatly influence the meat quality, contributing 10 to 25% of the variation. An effective stunning method, skinning instead of scalding/dehairing and rapid post-slaughter chilling further reduce the incidence of PSE pork. In addition to proper care and handling a carcass-merit based marketing system, that reflected the value differential between desirable and undesirable meat quality in the pricing system for pigs, would provide a great incentive to change pork production systems in order to improve meat quality, thus improving the image and usefulness of pork as food.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.424-432
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• 2004

The handling and transport of broiler birds from farm to the processing factory is known to cause injury and dead. The preslaughter period can be compromised through thermal stress, emotional stress, starvation, dehydration, metabolic exhaustion, trauma to the skin and bone fraction resulting in bruising and dead. This paper focuses on the control points of individual post Harvest stages by reference to recent literature. In catching, the injuries and deads are caused from fracture of bone, skin damage and hipbone dislocation. It can be improved by training the catchers. The primary factor of dead during transportation is from thermal stress. It is related to stocking density, type of crate and vehicle, ventilation and transportation time. Of the factors, the ventilation is very important. The holding place should be built with consideration of protection from the hostile external environment. There were not much progresses in this area, however, many researches are conducting to focus on animal welfare in European Union. Recently, it is rapidly changed in marketing custom from whole carcass to portion cut in Korea. This means the increase of economic loss due to the mishandling at post harvest. The systematic approach is demanded for this area.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1656-1665
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• 2020

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effects of stress during slaughter of beef cattle on physiological parameters, carcass, and meat quality at a Federal Inspection Type slaughterhouse located in the southeast of Mexico. Methods: A total of 448 carcasses of male Zebu×European steers with an average age of 36 months were included. Carcass assessment of presence of bruises and bruise characteristics was carried out on each half-carcass. Blood variable indicators of stress (packed cell volume, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, glucose, cortisol concentration) and meat quality parameters (pH, color, shear force, drip loss) were evaluated. Results: Of the 448 carcasses evaluated, 81% of the carcasses showed at least one bruise; one bruise was detected in 36.6% and two bruises in 27.0% of animals. Of the 775 bruises found, 69.2% of the bruises were grade 1 in region 3. Of the 448 carcasses studied, 69.6% showed hyperglycemia (6.91 mmol/L); 44.3% and 22.7% showed high (74.7 ng/mL) and extremely high (108.8 ng/mL) cortisol levels, respectively, indicative of inadequate handling of animals during preslaughter and slaughter. Of the carcasses evaluated, 90.4% had a pH ≥5.8 with an average of pH 6.3. In both pH groups, meat samples showed L^⋆ values >37.0 (81.6%) and a shear force >54.3 N; meat pH≥5.8 group showed a drip loss of 2.5%. These findings were indicative of dark, firm, and dry (DFD) meat. According to principal component analysis, grades 1 and 2 bruises in region 3 and grade 1 bruises in region 5 were highly associated with cortisol, drip loss, and color parameters b^⋆ and h^⋆ and were negatively associated with L^⋆, a^⋆, and C^⋆. Conclusion: The bruises probably caused by stress-inducing situations triggered DFD meat. Appropriate changes in handling routines in operating conditions should be made to minimize stress to animals during the slaughter process to improve animal welfare and meat quality.