Meat+Poultry - September 2017 - 100

FROM THE CORRAL

Getting back to basics
Recently I was talking to a person
who works on livestock handling at
packing plants. Plant management had
installed a lamp on their restrainer
entrance to facilitate animal entry.
Adding the lamp made it possible to
greatly reduce electric prod use. Using
lamps to illuminate dark places is a
subject I have talked about many times.
Unfortunately, there is still a need to
keep refreshing everybody's memory.
When the lamp's bulb burned out,
management had failed to replace it. A
dark entrance caused the cattle to balk
and this resulted in increased electric
prod use. After their electric prod use
score had greatly increased, they called
in a consultant who quickly found
the broken lamp. It then took time to
retrain the employees who had to prod
the animals excessively to force them
into the dark entrance.
Why did they fail to fix the burned
out lamp? Possibly they had new
employees who did not know why
the lamp had been installed. When it
broke, they failed to observe that the
lack of illumination had an effect on
animal movement. For many people, it

is sometimes hard to understand the
likely that the cattle could barely feel
power of behavior. Many times I have
the small amount of wind. When the
installed a lamp on a chute
fan was turned so that the
entrance and it is amazing
direction of BOTH the air
the difference it makes.
movement and the cattle
It is sometimes
The lamp must light up
was the SAME, they
hard to
the way in front of the
moved easily. Details
understand
approaching animals. It
matter to animals. Tiny
the power of
must never directly shine
environmental
details can
behavior.
in the eyes of approaching
make a big difference in
animals.
animal movement.
More and more packers
are
now
using
the Arrowsight Remote
AIRFLOW AND BALKING
Video
Auditng
system to address
When either cattle or pigs refuse to
some
of
these
issues.
I recently visited
enter a stun box or chute, the first
Arrowsight's
"Mission
Control,"
thing to look for is the direction of
center
in
Huntsville,
Alabama.
A
airflow. If air blows back into the
video
tour
of
many
plants
indicated
faces of approaching animals, they
that handling was easily passing the
will often refuse to move forward.
audits. A few plants were achieving
Sometimes there will be time-of-day
the true art of stockmanship. One
effects. In the cool early morning, the
beef plant demonstrated poetry in
animals may move easily and later in
motion with perfectly timed bunches
the afternoon, they may start balking
moving through the crowd pen. The
and electric prod use may increase.
person working on the crowd pen had
When the outside temperature rises
and additional fans are turned on inside become a master of stockmanship.
The animals moved all the way to the
the plant, this may force more air back
stunner entrance with no assistance
down the chute.
from people. Most others kept prod
For food safety reasons, air
scores low, but there were often too
movement going back into the plant
many animals placed in the crowd pen.
must be controlled. Ideally at the stun
Good handling requires more walking
box entrance, there should be no air
to move small bunches of cattle or
movement. At one plant I visited, they
pigs through the crowd pen. Managers
had a fan to cool the employees who
will need to constantly monitor the
worked alongside the single file chute.
numbers of cattle or pigs brought up to
When this fan blew across the top
the crowd pen from the yards.
of the chute, it caused major cattle
balking and skips on the line. It was
T E M P L E G R A N D I N | m e a t p o u l t r y @ s o s l a n d .c o m

100

MEAT+ POULTRY | 09.17 | www.meatpoultry.com

Rosalie Winard

Using lamps to illuminate dark places is
a subject I have talked about many times.
Unfortunately, there is still a need to keep
refreshing everybody's memory.
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - September 2017

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