Davis Melissa K, Sullivan Paxton A, Hess Ann M, Nair Mahesh N, Mooney Daniel F, Edwards-Callaway Lily N
Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Department of Statistics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Transl Anim Sci. 2024 Jul 22;8:txae108. doi: 10.1093/tas/txae108. eCollection 2024.
During the preslaughter phase, cattle are transported from their place of origin to a slaughter facility, experiencing transportation, lairage, environmental factors, and novel environments. Although research exists that has focused how the preslaughter phase impacts cattle welfare and meat quality, some significant preslaughter management factors and subsequent welfare and meat quality outcomes have not been thoroughly explored. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of preslaughter management factors on welfare and meat quality outcomes in fed beef cattle in the United States. Transportation factors, environmental characteristics, lairage factors, cattle characteristics, and several meat quality variables were collected from 5 federally inspected commercial processing facilities in the United States. After excluding slaughter lots that included <75% complete datasets, a total of 619 slaughter lots representing 84,508 head of cattle were used for further analysis. Predictor variables of interest included processing plant, cattle breed, sex class, operation shift at the plant, distance traveled to the plant, truck waiting time to unload at the plant, lairage duration and space allowance, temperature humidity index, and windspeed. Outcome variables of interest included cattle mobility, carcass bruising, dark cutting (DC), quality grades, and hot carcass weights. Logistic and linear regressions were used to analyze the associations between the predictor and outcome variables of interest. Increased distance traveled and truck waiting time were associated with higher odds of mobility impairment ( = 0.0009 and = 0.007, respectively), with each 10 km increase in distance traveled having an odds ratio (OR) of 1.001 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.000 to 1.001) and each 1-min increase in waiting time having an OR of 1.003 (CI: 1.001 to 1.004). Conversely, a 10-km increase in distance traveled decreased the odds of carcass bruising (OR: 0.997, CI: 0.996 to 0.998; < 0.0001). Longer lairage was associated with increased odds of DC ( = 0.0415), with each 60-min increase in duration having an OR of 1.034 (CI: 1.001 to 1.068). The results demonstrate the importance of truck arrival management (i.e., scheduling, prioritizing unloading) on mobility. Focusing on lairage management (i.e., density and time) may provide some opportunities to improve meat quality.
在屠宰前阶段，牛从其原产地被运输到屠宰设施，经历运输、圈养、环境因素和新环境。尽管已有研究关注屠宰前阶段如何影响牛的福利和肉质，但一些重要的屠宰前管理因素以及随后的福利和肉质结果尚未得到充分探讨。本研究的目的是评估屠宰前管理因素对美国育肥牛福利和肉质结果的影响。从美国5家联邦检查的商业加工设施收集了运输因素、环境特征、圈养因素、牛的特征以及几个肉质变量。在排除数据集完整性低于75%的屠宰批次后，共619个屠宰批次（代表84,508头牛）用于进一步分析。感兴趣的预测变量包括加工厂、牛的品种、性别类别、工厂的运营班次、到工厂的行驶距离、卡车在工厂等待卸货的时间、圈养持续时间和空间配额、温度湿度指数以及风速。感兴趣的结果变量包括牛的移动性、胴体瘀伤、黑切肉（DC）、质量等级和热胴体重。使用逻辑回归和线性回归分析感兴趣的预测变量和结果变量之间的关联。行驶距离增加和卡车等待时间增加与移动性受损的几率更高相关（分别为=0.0009和=0.007），行驶距离每增加10公里，优势比（OR）为1.001（95%置信区间[CI]：1.000至1.001），等待时间每增加1分钟，OR为1.003（CI：1.001至1.004）。相反，行驶距离增加10公里会降低胴体瘀伤的几率（OR：0.997，CI：0.996至0.998；<0.0001）。圈养时间延长与DC几率增加相关（=0.0415），持续时间每增加60分钟，OR为1.034（CI：1.001至1.068）。结果表明卡车到达管理（即调度、优先卸货）对移动性的重要性。关注圈养管理（即密度和时间）可能为改善肉质提供一些机会。
