Finishing diet, temperament and lairage time effects on carcass and meat quality traits in steers

Campo, M. del; Brito, G.; Lima, Julião Soares de Souza; Hernández, Pilar; Montossi, F.

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2010.07.014

Cited by 53 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…del Campo et al (2010) reported that resting duration of over three hours promotes recovery from the transportation stress. In addition, animals are expected to acclimatize to a specific condition after some time of exposure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, lairage may be characterised by unfamiliar conditions, such as concrete floors as opposed to the natural grassy farm, confinement, multiple abattoir workers, handling procedures, feed restriction, and the presence of unfamiliar animals of different species and from different farms (Hemsworth & Coleman, 1998;Ferguson & Warner, 2008;Terlouw & Porcher, 2005). Furthermore, lairage duration of over 3 hours was reported to be ideal for steers to rest and recover from previous stress caused during transportation (del Campo et al, 2010). However, it was also reported that feed deprivation during this stage may result in alterations in blood stress indicators such as creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, glucose, cortisol and packed cell volume (Ekiz et al, 2012), while longer durations may result in live weight losses through excreting and urinating (Ferguson & Warner, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pre-slaughter effects on bleed-out times and some behavioural and physiological responses of Nguni and non-descript steers

Njisane

Muchenje

2017

SA J. An. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effect of loading, transportation, lairage and slaughter conditions on bleed-out times, behavioural and physiological responses of Nguni and non-descript steers reared extensively on natural pastures was investigated. Twenty Nguni (NG) and 20 non-descript (ND) steers were loaded and transported 120 km from the farm to the abattoir in two groups (TG1 and TG2), each comprised of both genotypes. Some environmental conditions and steer behavioural responses were monitored during on-and off-loading, transportation, lairage, and stunning. Trained observers recorded the posture of the steers during transportation, time-budgets during lairage, avoidance-related behaviour, and vocalization scores at stunning were recorded. The steers were slaughtered in four groups (SG1, SG2, SG3 and SG4) and the number of attempts to stun each steer was recorded. Blood samples were collected from each steer during exsanguination for cortisol, glucose and lactate analysis. It took less time to load (370 s) and off-load (602 s) TG1 than TG2 (420 s and 782 s, respectively). All steers were standing throughout transportation and during the lairage observation period. Avoidance-related behaviour and vocalization in the stunning box were not influenced by genotype. The TG1 steers showed more avoidance behaviour (63.2%) and higher cortisol (140.6 ± 14.50 nmol/L) and lactate (12.4 ± 0.83 nmol/L) levels than TG2 (23.9%; 92.8 ± 15.38; 9.0 ± 0.88, respectively). All SG2 steers showed minimal avoidance behaviour with higher cortisol (175.9 ± 17.24 nmol/L) and lactate (13.5 ± 1.12 mmol/L) levels than other groups. Generally, cortisol and lactate levels were positively correlated (r = 0.70). The 5% vocalization recorded was observed from ND steers, TG1 and SG2. In conclusion, steers of different genotypes displayed similar behavioural and physiological responses to identical pre-slaughter conditions that they were exposed to.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-slaughter effects on bleed-out times and some behavioural and physiological responses of Nguni and non-descript steers

Njisane

Muchenje

2017

SA J. An. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, heritability values observed for Corriedale lambs (0.18) and Merino lambs (0.31) in Uruguay are within the range of heritability values reported for other sheep breeds. Selection for less-reactive animals could be of interest to sheep breeders, as it can improve the animal welfare, the number of offspring per ewe, the immune defences of ewes, lamb survival and improve the quality of the final product (wool, milk and meat; Burrow, 2001;Del Campo et al, 2010). The temperament of the Merino and Corriedale sheep in Uruguay, tested with the IBT, is a behavioural characteristic that varies among populations, and is moderately heritable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperament and its heritability in Corriedale and Merino lambs

Zambra

Gimeno²,

Blache

et al. 2015

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Temperament can be defined as the fearfulness and reactivity of an animal in response to humans and strange, novel or threatening environments. The productive performance of an animal is affected by its temperament, and selection of calm animals might improve their adaptation to the farming environment and handling, as well as improve productivity. The temperament was measured in lambs of two breeds of sheep in Uruguay. The effects of dam's age, type of birth, age of the lamb and contemporary group (CG; lambs belonging to the same year, flock, sex and rearing group) on the temperament of the lambs and the heritability of temperament were estimated with a Bayesian analysis using Gibbs sampling. Overall, 4962 Corriedale lambs and 2952 Merino lambs from 13 farms were tested. Temperament was measured using the isolation box test, isolating a lamb inside the box for 30 s, and recording the vibrations produced by its movements. The average temperament score (± s.e.m.) of the Corriedale lambs was 24.7 (±0.23) and that of the Merino was 36.8 (±0.45). Temperament was not associated with dam's age, type of birth or lamb's age. There were no relevant differences in the agitation score between lambs born in 2010 and 2011. The mean of the distribution of possible values of heritability (± s.d.) was 0.18 (±0.05) for the Corriedale and 0.31 (±0.06) for the Merino. The likelihood of heritability values to be greater than 0.15 exceeded 70% in the Corriedale and 90% in the Merino. The temperament of Merino and Corriedale sheep in Uruguay is moderately heritable. It is not related to dam's age, type of birth or age of the lambs; however, it is affected by some aspect of the CG.Keywords: sheep temperament, emotional reactivity, Gibb's sampling ImplicationsObjective selection for calm sheep may improve animal welfare and economic performance of sheep flocks. We assessed the temperament of Uruguayan lambs (reactivity to social isolation) with a simple test -the isolation box test (IBT). This trait had a heritability of 0.18 in Corriedale lambs and 0.31 in Merino lambs; therefore, temperament (assessed by IBT) can be considered as a potential selection tool for sheep. IntroductionSince domestication, natural and artificial selection have led to the adaptation of animals to different types of production environments. However, farmers still have to deal with low lambing rate and high lamb mortality (Simm et al., 1996). Artificial selection for behavioural traits in species of economic value can improve adaptation of the animals to production environments. The expression of undesirable behavioural traits in livestock has the potential to significantly compromise farm viability, animal welfare, human safety and labour efficiency (Turner et al., 2011). Fear and emotional reactivity (temperament) are behavioural elements in cattle and sheep, which are heritable and can have genetic and phenotypic associations with reproductive performance and lamb survival (Murphy, 1999;Reverter et al., 2003;Kadel et al., 2006;Turner et al., 2011). In sheep...

show abstract

“…More research within and between countries in SA is necessary to improve AW during lairage, as situations may vary largely due to type of animals, climate, farming, transport and slaughterhouse facilities and handling (Del Campo et al, 2010).…”

Section: Handling Of Ruminant Livestock At Slaughterhousesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Main animal welfare problems in ruminant livestock during preslaughter operations: a South American view

Gallo¹,

Huertas²

2016

animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animals destined for meat production are usually exposed to many stressful conditions during production and particularly during preslaughter operations. Handling animals on farm, loading into and unloading from vehicles, transportation, passing through livestock markets, fasting, lairage and stunning can all affect their welfare. How badly welfare can be affected will depend on both the intrinsic factors of the specific type of animal involved and the extrinsic factors of the environment where those animals live or are being handled, including the animal handlers. In South America (SA), it has been part of a strategy for improving animal welfare (AW) to address not only ethical aspects, but to emphasize the close relationship existing between handling ruminants preslaughter and the quantity and quality of the meat they produce. This has resulted not only in improvements in AW, but has also brought economic rewards to producers which in turn can lead to higher incomes for them and hence better human welfare. For producers with a high number of animals, considering AW during production and preslaughter operations can determine the possibility of exporting and/or getting better prices for their products. At smallfarmer level, particularly in some less developed countries, where human welfare is impaired, using this strategy together with education has also been relevant. It is important that education and training in AW are done not only considering global knowledge, but also including specific geographical and climatic characteristics of each country and the cultural, religious and socio-economical characteristics of its people; therefore, research within the context of each country or region becomes relevant. The aim of this review was to show the results of research dealing with AW of ruminant livestock in Chile and some other SA countries. Some of the main problems encountered are related to lack of proper infrastructure to handle animals; long distance transport with high stocking densities in the larger countries; long fasting times due to animals passing through livestock markets and dealers; bad handling of animals by untrained personnel in these and other premises; and finally the lack of knowledge and skills by operators in charge of stunning procedures. Interventions at these stages have considered training animal handlers and transporters by showing them the consequences of bad handling with audiovisual material prepared on site. Research results have helped to improve AW and support the development of new legislation or to make changes in the existent legislation related to AW.

show abstract

Finishing diet, temperament and lairage time effects on carcass and meat quality traits in steers

Cited by 53 publications

References 46 publications

Pre-slaughter effects on bleed-out times and some behavioural and physiological responses of Nguni and non-descript steers

Pre-slaughter effects on bleed-out times and some behavioural and physiological responses of Nguni and non-descript steers

Temperament and its heritability in Corriedale and Merino lambs

Main animal welfare problems in ruminant livestock during preslaughter operations: a South American view

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About