Conference notes

摘要

At the North American Meat Institute's Animal Care and Handling Conference in October, a wide variety of transport issues were addressed. Karen Schwartzkoff, a researcher from Agri Food Canada, presented some interesting statistics on her surveys of cattle transport. Driver experience matters. If a driver had six to 10 years of cattle transport experience, the percentage of compromised animals was significantly reduced on long journeys of over 200 miles. They used a total compromised score which combined lame, dead and downed animals. She stated that poor condition at loading is the biggest risk factor for an animal becoming compromised.