Impact of good practices of handling training on beef cattle welfare and stockpeople attitudes and behaviors

Abstract

The aims of this study were to evaluate the potential impacts of training in good practices of cattle handling on stockpeople's attitudes and behavior, and on cattle welfare, in Brazilian beef farms. Additionally, we aimed to investigate whether the quality of cattle handling deteriorates as the working day progresses. The study was conducted on 24 commercial beef cattle farms (located in Northeastern Pará State, Brazil), which were classified into three groups with different levels of training: Regularly trained (TRAINED-R, n = 9), Occasionally trained (TRAINED-O, n = 9) and Never trained (NON-TRAINED, n = 6). A total of 150 stockpeople working on these farms were categorized according to the level of training received: i) Trained (TS, n = 43), those who attended formal handling skills training; ii) Non-trained, but had close contact with a trained stockperson (CTS, n = 62), and iii) Non-trained, and had no contact with a trained stockperson (NT, n = 45). On each farm, indicators of quality of handling (including animal and stockpeople behavior, and stockpeople attitudes) were measured on one workday, during the vaccination handling procedures of approximately 236 ± 65 (mean ± SD) heads of cattle per farm. We observed that NON-TRAINED farms had the poorest quality of handling, as well as more undesirable animal behaviors during handling (P < 0.05), when compared with the other farm categories (TRAINED-R, TRAINED-O). Stockpeople attitudes and behaviors varied according to their degree of training in good practices of beef cattle handling (P < 0.05). People who participated in a formal training course (TS) had the highest positive and the lowest negative behavior and attitude scores, compared with people in the other groups (CTS and NT). We observed an effect of the progression of the workday (P < 0.05) only on NON-TRAINED farms, where handling became worse over time. Our results support the hypothesis that training stockpeople in good cattle handling practices leads to better attitudes and behavior toward cattle. Thus, training stockpeople can be an effective and practical strategy to promote positive human-animal interactions on beef cattle farms, improving the quality of life of both animals and workers.

Human Relationships with Domestic and Other Animals: One Health, One Welfare, One Biology

“…Poorly designed and poorly managed buildings lead to many welfare problems [85]. The training of stockpeople has been shown to substantially improve animal handling on farms, because it helps them understand the behavior of farm animals, positively modifies their attitudes, and improves their conduct toward animals [87][88][89].…”

“…Once captured, the animal can be immobilized, if necessary. This immobilization requires adequate equipment, specialized races and other structures, established protocols, and experienced handling by the person handling the animal [89]. Poor quality capture and immobilization generates risks for both the animal and the person who is handling it.…”

Animal-Based Measurements to Assess the Welfare of Dairy Cull Cows during Pre-Slaughter

“…This study shows that the use of electrical shocks produced negative reactions in the animals that were difficult to reverse like slips, jumps, vocalization, and falls. This suggests that handlers need to be trained to better handling natural animal behavior, have a rigorous selection process for personnel, give incentives to those personnel that handle the animals correctly, implement cognitive/behavioral interventions (like handling skills training) and limit the use of electric goads [ 31 ]. Colombian legislation prohibits the use of blunt, sharp, or electric instruments for handling cattle on farms Resolution 2341 of 2007, but does not specify these same conditions in abattoirs [ 20 ], which is why electric goads are used for handling cattle.…”

“…Experimental studies have suggested that the reaction of cows in pre-slaughter can be influenced by being in an unfamiliar environment, social separation, and the capacity to perceive stress among animals from the same group [ 19 ]. It is possible that the low aggressive reactivity of the cows in this study to the handling of the personnel is associated with a high level of human acceptance due to dairy systems requiring close contact every day [ 31 ]. In the same way cull cows displayed a predominant behavior of freezing in the face of negative human interactions; this is considered a fear response from cull dairy cows, making them more fearful and difficult to handle [ 33 ], which is the reason why we propose that aggressive handling is unnecessary and that the attitude of personnel towards the animals can be modified to favor a more positive work environment and job satisfaction; this can be done by reinforcing good handling practices and encouraging positive attitudes among the personnel towards the animals.…”

Tiempo de manejo y algunas conductas relacionadas con el estrés al manejar grupos grandes o reducidos de ganado en mangas rectas

“…En un hato establecido, existe relaciones de dominancia sumisión bien establecidas, que permiten la coexistencia de los animales (15) , por lo que cuando se les fuerza a interactuar con otros animales, incrementando su densidad y creando nuevos grupos de diferente rango de edad y peso, estos son factores clasificados como estresores bilógicos (16) . Así mismo, estas prácticas se relacionan con una mala calidad en el manejo del ganado y se asocian con una mayor reactividad, más comportamientos indeseables y un mayor riesgo de accidentes (17,18) . En suma toda situación que rompa con la organización social en una población animal puede desencadenar diferentes grados de estrés (14,19) , esta situación fue propiciada en el presente estudio al provocar un cambio en el entorno espacial durante el llenado de la manga de manejo.…”