The following suggestions are intended to help farmers move their animals in a low stress
manner. Animals that are over stressed will tend to have more health problems, less desirable
meat characteristics (including greater shrinkage), and are more dangerous when handled.
Conditions for the handler and the animal are much better when using low stress practices. It is
important to respect livestock – and not to fear them.
Animals sense their surroundings differently than humans.64 Prey animals such as cattle and
sheep are unable to differentiate colors as well as humans. As a result, they move more readily
from dark areas into lighter ones but will avoid layouts that make them look directly into the sun.
Lighting should be even and diffused. Bright spots and shadows tend to make animals more
skittish, especially near crowding or loading areas. Handlers should wear clothing that will not
cause them to stand out, which may cause the animal to balk or turn away.
Loud noise should be kept to a minimum and quick movements avoided. Most animals will
respond to routine; especially when handlers remain calm and deliberate. Handlers are reminded
to be patient; and should never prod an animal when it has nowhere to go. Slow and deliberate movement around livestock is more effective, as is gentle touching, rather than shoving or bumping them.
Animals have a flight zone (see Diagram 1 on next page)65. When a person enters this zone, the
animal will begin to move away from the person or thing that is approaching. Animals also have
a point of balance from which their movement can be directed forward or backward. This point
of balance is generally located at the shoulder of the animal and “is determined by the animal’s
wide-angle vision.”66 If a person moves toward an animal from the front, the animal will move to
the rear. On the other hand, if the animal is approached from the rear or side it will move forward
and in a circular motion around the approaching being. When moving animals try to move them
in small groups, rather than individually. Many animals cannot see directly behind themselves,
so caution should be used when approaching from the rear (Diagrams 2A and 2B).
Farmers should avoid using electric prods because they usually agitate the animals more than
they help in moving them along. By law, prods cannot carry a charge higher than 50 volts
(AC).67 In place of electric prods, handlers can use sticks with cloth on them. Large plastic
paddles can also be purchased for this use. Sticks and paddles should be used as extension of the
arm, to direct–but never to hit–the animal.
Dangling chains, bags, pipes, or similar items in the path of animals discourage their forward
movement and will cause the animal to balk or turn back, away from the direction of travel.
Reflections from metal or puddles of water can also distract animals and cause them to stop, as
can out of place objects or movements.
Handlers should always have an escape route when working with an animal in close quarters.
Alleys and chutes should be wide enough to allow animals to pass, but not wide enough to allow
them to turn around. Solid wall chutes, instead of fencing, will lower the number of animals that
balk in the chute. Animals move better if directed through a circular solid walled chute.
Appropriate handling equipment can speed up livestock confinement work operations, reduce
time and labor requirements, cut costs, and decrease the risk of injury.
Diagram 1: Flight Zone and Point of Balance
Diagrams 2A and 2B: Animal Vision Area
1. Systematic Approach
FSIS recommends the use of a “systematic approach” for working with slaughter animals. As
outlined in the FSIS notice entitled “Humane Handling and Slaughter Requirements and the
Merits of a Systematic Approach to Meet Such Requirements,” the four steps of this approach
are:
1. Conduct an initial assessment of where, and under what circumstances, livestock may
experience excitement, discomfort, or accidental injury while being handled in
connection with slaughter, and of where, and under what circumstances, stunning
problems may occur;
2. Design facilities and implement practices that will minimize excitement, discomfort,
and accidental injury to livestock;
3. Evaluate periodically the handling methods the establishment employs to ensure that
those methods minimize excitement, discomfort, or accidental injury and evaluate those
stunning methods periodically to ensure that all livestock are rendered insensible to pain
by a single blow; and
4. Respond to the evaluations, as appropriate, by addressing problems immediately and
by improving those practices and modifying facilities when necessary to minimize
excitement, discomfort, and accidental injury to livestock.68
FSIS provided additional guidance in 2011 in FSIS Directive 6900.2, Revision 2, including the
recommendation to implement the aforementioned four steps in a “robust way” through a written
handling program.69
For a comprehensive overview of this topic, see the guide that FSIS released in 2013:
FSIS Compliance Guide for a Systemic Approach to Humane Handling of Livestock,
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/da6cb63d-5818-4999-84f1
72e6dabb9501/Comp-Guide-Systematic-Approach-Humane-Handling
Livestock.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
Dr. Temple Grandin provides excellent resources on humane handling and
transportation of slaughter animals on her website at Dr. Temple Grandin’s Website:
Livestock Behaviour, Design of Facilities and Humane Slaughter,
http://www.grandin.com/. Dr. Grandin also co-wrote the following very helpful guide:
Temple Grandin & North American Meat Institute Animal Welfare Committee,
Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines & Audit Guide: A Systematic Approach to
Animal Welfare (2017), http://animalhandling.org/sites/default/files/forms/animal
handling-guidelines-Nov32017.pdf.
For more information on humane handling, see the following chapter from an FSIS
manual: Humane Handling of Livestock and Good Commercial Practices in Poultry, in
Livestock Slaughter Inspection Training Manual (2017), https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/f01f41d1-bc55-42f3-8880
991814f35533/LSIT_HumaneHandling.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.70 See also Humane
Handling of Livestock (2008), http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Humane_Handling_of_Livestock.pdf.
There are also various certification programs relating to humane treatment. For more
information, see below in Part XV. “Certification Programs and Product Claims.”
