• Cattle, pigs and sheep have wide-angle vision and they can see behind themselves without turning their heads. This explains why they will often balk at shadows or puddles of water on the ground.

  

  Shadows will cause livestock to balk and refuse to move.

  

  Drains should be located outside of the areas where animals walk. A drain or a metal plate running across an alley will cause balking because animals may refuse to step over it.

• Balking slows animal movement and can be prevented. Flapping objects such as a coat hung over a fence will also make livestock balk. When wetting pigs in the chute, be sure not to spray the animals' faces with water, because they will back up.

• Animals tend to move from a darker area to a more brightly lighted area. Lamps can be used to attract animals into chutes. The light should illuminate the chute up ahead and it should never glare directly into the eyes of approaching animals. Another approach is illuminating the entire chute area. This approach eliminates patches of light and dark which may confuse animals. Move ceiling lamps off the centerline of the chute (race) to eliminate sparkling reflections on the floor.
  

• Curved single file race with solid sides at a meat plant. Cattle will move more easily through a curved race.

• Solid sides which prevent the cattle from seeing outside the fence should be installed on the chutes (races) and the crowd pen which leads up to the single file chute.
  

• A curved chute (race) with solid sides at a ranch facility. It works better than a straight chute because cattle think they are going back to where they came from.

• Solid sides in these areas help prevent cattle from becoming agitated when they see activity outside the fence -- such as people. Cattle tend to be calmer in a chute with solid sides.
  
  Cattle move more easily through the curved race system because they can not see people and other distractions ahead.

• The crowd gate on the crowd pen should also be solid to prevent animals from attempting to turn back, towards the stockyard pens they just left.

• It is important to reduce noise in the stunning area. Animals are more sensitive to high pitched noise than people. Animals will be calmer and easier to handle if noise levels are reduced. Install mufflers on air valve exhausts or put them outside . Rubber stops on gates can be used to stop clanging. Braking devices on the shackle return improves safety and reduces noise. Use large diameter plumbing and replace noisy pumps with quieter ones. Some brands of pumps are quieter than others. Rubber hose connection between the power unit and metal plumbing will help prevent power unit noise from being transmitted throughout the facility. Any new equipment that is installed in animal handling or stunning areas should be engineered for quietness.

Behavior and Handling

Grandin, T. 1997 Low Stress Methods for Moving Cattle on Pastures, Paddocks and large Feedlot PensA commentary by Dr.Grandin on Bud Williams and his cattle handling techniques.

Grandin, T. 1996

Factors That Impede Animal Movement at Slaughter Plants.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 209 No.4 : 757 - 759

Grandin, T. 1993

Teaching Principles of Behaviour and Equipment Design For Handling Livestock. Journal of Animal Science 71 : 1065 - 1070

Grandin, T. (Editor) 2000

Livestock Handling and Transport, 2nd Edition. CAB International,
Wallingford Oxon, United Kingdom

Grandin, T. 1991-1997

Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines For Meat
Packers and Good Management Practices for Animla Handling and Stunning. American Meat Institute, Washington DC USA

Grandin, T. 1987

Animal Handling....in E.O. Price (Editor) Farm Animal
Behaviour. Veterinary Clinics of North America 3:323-328

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