SHORT COMMUNICATION: The Pre-transport management of antemortem stress in cattle: Impact on carcass yield

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1 SHORT COMMUNICATION: The Pre-transport management of antemortem stress in cattle: Impact on carcass yield B. Grumpelt 1, W. Hoffer 2, O. Curie 3, O. Jones 3, K. Jones 3, D. Kimmel 1, B. McDonald 3, R. Paterson 3, and A. Schaefer 3,4 1 Wetaskiwin Co-op Country Junction Feeds, Ave., Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada T9A 2B8; 2 Pine Haven Feedlot, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada T9A 2B8; and 3 DeStress Nutrition Technology, Ave SE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2C 0J7. Received 8 April 2015, accepted 5 June Published on the web 24 August Grumpelt, B., Hoffer, W., Curie, O., Jones, O., Jones, K., Kimmel, D., McDonald, B., Paterson, R. and Schaefer, A SHORT COMMUNICATION: The Pre-transport management of antemortem stress in cattle: Impact on carcass yield. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: Transport and handling of cattle can have a significant impact on carcass weight loss. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of providing pre-transport nutritional therapy containing selective amino acids, electrolytes and an energy source, on carcass weight loss. One hundred and ninety British crossbred steers averaging 611 kg were used in the study. The treatment cattle received 1 kg of a nutritional supplement top dressed onto their normal silage diet 24 h prior to transport. Following a 1-h transport period the cattle were processed at a federally inspected beef plant and both hot and cold carcass yield as well as yield grade and quality grade were assessed. Cattle provided with pretransport nutritional therapy demonstrated a reduction in percentage live weight loss (PB0.01) as well as 1.2% greater hot carcass yield as a proportion of pre-treatment farm weight (PB0.01). The data suggest the use of nutritional support pretransport is beneficial to carcass yield. Key words: Antemortem stress, cattle, nutritional therapy Grumpelt, B., Hoffer, W., Curie, O., Jones, O., Jones, K., Kimmel, D., McDonald, B., Paterson, R. et Schaefer, A COMMUNICATION BRE` VE: La gestion pré-transport du stress ante-mortem chez les bovins : effet sur le rendement a` l abattage. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: Le transport et la manutention des bovins peuvent avoir un effet significatif sur la perte de poids de la carcasse. Le but de la pre sente e tude e tait d examiner l effet sur la perte de poids de carcasse d offrir une the rapie nutritionnelle avant le transport qui contient un choix d acides amine s, d e lectrolytes et une source d e nergie. Cent quatre-vingt-dix bouvillons croise s britanniques de poids moyen 611 kg ont été utilise s dans cette e tude. Les bovins traite s ont rec u 1 kg d un supplément nutritionnel verse sur leur die` te normale d ensilage 24 h avant le transport. Suivant une pe riode de transport de 1 h, les bouvillons ont e té traite s dans une usine de transformation du bæuf inspecte e par des agents fe de raux et les rendements de carcasse à chaud et à froid ainsi que les calibres de rendement et les cate gories de qualite ont e té e value s. Les bouvillons ayant rec u la the rapie nutritionnelle avant le transport ont montre une re duction du pourcentage de perte de poids vif (PB0,01) ainsi qu un plus grand (1,2%) rendement de carcasse a` chaud exprime comme proportion du poids à la ferme avant traitement (PB0,01). Les donne es sugge` rent que le soutien nutritionnel avant le transport est avantageux pour le rendement de la carcasse. Transport and handling are known to be significant stressors for cattle and can result in behavioural and physiological responses (Warriss 1995; Booth McLean et al. 2007) as well as live and carcass weight loss (Grandin 1993; Schaefer et al. 2001, 2006). Live animal weight loss or shrink is reported to be particularly affected by ambient temperature, transport duration, type of cattle, driver experience and transport delays (Gonzalez et al. 2012). These impacts carry both economical and animal welfare cost for the cattle and processing industry. Physiologically, this weight loss is reported to be due to four primary insults including stress-induced 4 Corresponding author (Box 5451 Lacombe, Alberta, Canada T4L 1X2. alschaef@telus.net). Mots clés: Stress ante-mortem, bouvillons, thérapie nutritionnelle hypoglycemia, ion depletion, protein catabolism, and dehydration (Schaefer et al. 2001). As reported by these authors, if nutritional therapy is used to treat transported cattle the optimal criteria would thus include an energy source, a restoration of depleted physiological ions, an amino acid therapy component to counteract protein catabolism and a means to promote hydration. Attempts to manage the impacts of transport and handling in cattle have been made including the use of pre conditioning strategies (Schwartzkopf-Genswein et al. 2007) and the use of endocrine programs pre-transport (Cook et al. 2009). In addition, in Canadian animal industries there are continued refinements to the transportation codes of practice as new information becomes available (Canadian Agri-Food Research Council 2001). These stress management regimes have met with significant success. Can. J. Anim. Sci. (2015) 95: doi: /cjas

2 558 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE Optimally, all of the aforementioned insults would be addressed. In this respect nutritional therapy has been used to attenuate these insults (Schaefer et al. 2001) and successful outcomes resulting in improved beef carcass yield and quality have been reported (Schaefer et al. 2006). However, previous published studies have focused predominantly on the use of nutritional therapy applied post-transport at an abattoir (Schaefer et al. 2006). Studies reporting pre-transport applications of nutritional therapy in cattle are less common. One example, is reported by Arp et al. (2011) regarding the use of pretransport nutritional therapy applied to cull dairy cattle. In that study the treated animals were seen to demonstrate a modest effect with respect to lower longissimus muscle ph. However, that study was unable to accommodate and include the use of amino acid therapies as part of the nutritional regime used. In addition, the animals used in the study reported by Arp et al. (2011) were cull dairy cows, arguably not representative of the majority of animals in the beef industry. The objective of the present study was to collect information regarding the pre-transport application of nutritional therapy, which included all of the nutrient criteria as discussed by Schaefer et al. (2001). Furthermore, it was the intent to study these effects in conventional beef animals. Animals and Management A total of 190 British cross steers were used in the study. The animals were divided equally into treatment or control pens. Animal allocation to pen was based on a stratified approach alternating animals to treatment or control pens at a separation gate. These cattle were raised within the Canadian Heritage Angus Beef # program. The animals weighed on average kg and were fed a cerealsilage-based diet designed to meet or exceed National Research Council (1996) conditions as a total metabolic ration. All cattle were raised in conventional feedlot pens designed to accommodate 200 animals (Pine Haven Feedlot, Wetaskiwin, AB) and provided with ad libitum access to water and straw bedding. The cattle were bunk fed once daily. All animals were raised and transported under conditions which met the Beef Cattle Code of Practice (2013) and guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (1993) and the Canadian Agri- Food Research Council (2001). Thirty-six hours before transport to the abattoir the cattle were weighed (farm weight) and allocated to treatments. Twenty-four hours prior to transport the treatment cattle were given 1 kg of a beef cattle supplement (DeStress Nutrition Technology, Calgary AB) as a top dress into their cereal silage. The proximate analysis for the supplement is shown in Table 1. On departure, all animals were loaded onto conventional cattle liners and transported to a federally inspected abattoir (Premium Meats, Lacombe AB) approximately a 1-h transport. Four cattle liner loads were required to transport the animals. Paired loads (one load treatment group and one load control) of cattle were transported Table 1. Ingredient proximate analysis for the antemortem nutritional therapy used in the present study (as-fed basis) Crude protein (min) 20.0% Crude fat (min) 4.5% Crude fiber (max) 10.0% Calcium (min) 1.3% Phosphorus (min) 0.5% Sodium (min) 1.0% Zinc (min) 900 mg kg 1 Vitamin A (min) IU kg 1 Vitamin D3 (min) 2000 IU kg 1 Vitamin E (min) 70 IU kg 1 together so that both treatment and control animals were slaughtered on the same day. Two transport dates, both during the month of October, were used to transport the cattle (two loads on one date and two loads on another). The average daily temperature experienced by the cattle was 4.58C with the average for the month reported as 3.38C. The cattle were off loaded and slaughtered within 12 h of arrival at the processing plant and had access to water while in lairage. Conditions experienced by the control and treatment animals were the same. The graders and processing personnel were blind to the treatments. Conventional data for abattoir liveweight collected pre slaughter, hot carcass weights and cold carcass weights (24 h post slaughter) were obtained. The animals were also graded for quality and yield by qualified CFIA graders. Statistics Values for animal sex, age, background management and diet, shipping dates, pen type and slaughter times were balanced. Animal assignment weight was stratified by alternating a gate split pre treatment. A Least Squares Analysis of Variance assessment was conducted of liveweight loss, hot carcass weight and cold carcass weight as a proportion of farm assignment weight between the two groups of animals using a mixed model (JMP Version 12. SAS Institute Inc. SAS Campus Drive, Cary, NC). In this model, treatment was used as the fixed effect and animal response as the random effect. Cattle used in the present study were well-finished animals displaying abundant marbling with AA or AAA grades. The carcass weights were also between 300 and 400 kg representing top-quality animals in the Canadian grading system. Despite the fact that the cattle were exposed to what would be considered as a short haul distance (1 h) the animals still lost over 20 kg of liveweight on average. Economically this represents over $80 of value to a producer at current beef prices in Canada for top-quality animals. Of interest was the observation that live-weight loss was significantly less (PB0.0001) in the treatment animals representing approximately 11 kg (Table 2) compared with control cattle. Of particular relevance to the processing industry is whether or not any increased retention of body weight is actually retained in the hot

3 GRUMPELT ET AL. * MANAGING ANTEMORTEM STRESS IN CATTLE 559 Table 2. Liveweight, carcass weight and quality grades in beef cattle given antemortem nutrient supplement. Data represents least squares means9sd Parameter Control Treated Probability P value Assignment farm live weight (kg) Abattoir weight (kg) NSD Hot carcass weight (kg) NSD Cold carcass weight (kg) NSD Live weight loss (shrink) (kg) PB0.001 Live weight shrink (%) PB0.001 Hot carcass/assignment live weight (%) PB0.001 Cold carcass/assignment live weight (%) PB0.001 n and cold carcass. In terms of carcass weight response in the present study, the hot and cold carcass as a proportion of farm assignment weight was used to calculate the effect of treatment on carcass weight. This is the correct and logical method for representing the carcass response since the effect of antemortem nutritional treatment would begin immediately upon feeding the nutritional therapy supplement at the feedlot. As discussed previously the application of amino acid therapies in particular will stimulate protein synthesis and reduce protein breakdown upon consumption (Schaefer et al. 2001). Hence, the correct pre-treatment baseline weight for the animals is the farm assignment weight. The assignment weight for the control animals was slightly higher than the treatment cattle. This was simply a coincidental result of the stratified method of assignment. However, more importantly, as apparent in Table 2, the proportional treatment difference in weight loss reduction was seen in both the hot and cold carcass weights with nutritional treatment animals. Treatment animals displayed over a 1% increased retention of hot carcass weight amounting to 4.1 kg on average. In terms of carcass quality and yield grades, the cattle used in the present study were well-finished British crossbred animals. As such the animals graded either AA or AAA for both treatment groups and displayed similar yield grade classes (average yield grade class was 2.1 for both control and treated animals). No discounts for dark cutting were seen in the animals, which is typical for well-finished short-haul cattle. Of note economically, the increased retention of carcass weight represents approximately $30 per animal of increased retained value in the treatment animals. Also of relevance is the fact that reducing weight loss in these transported animals is arguably an improvement in the antemortem welfare of the cattle. The loss of liveweight and carcass yield during transport of cattle is of both welfare and economic concern (Grandin 1993, p. 119). In fact, the reduction in weight loss is consistent with observed outcomes in other physiological measurements. As discussed and referenced by Schaefer et al. (1997, 2001, 2006) the use of antemortem nutritional treatment has been demonstrated to at least in part attenuate the stressors resulting from transport and handling of animals. These include the observed improvements in osmolality and physiological ions and hence fluid balance, the preservation of more normal haematology and endocrine parameters and the attenuation of cortisol driven neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios. This evidence provides a clear indication that nutritional therapy can attenuate stress in animals during the antemortem period. Conclusions The data collected in the present study demonstrate that cattle treated with antemortem nutritional therapy pre-transport retain greater live and carcass weight. This response is arguably of benefit to both the animal s welfare and to the economic advantage for the cattle producer and processor. The authors are grateful to the Pine Haven Feedlot, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, for the use of their feedlot and animals for this study. The authors also acknowledge the Co-op Wetaskiwin Feeds company for the provision of the nutritional therapy product. Arp, T. S., Carr, C. C., Johnson, D. D., Thrift, T. A., Warnock, T. M. and Schaefer, A. L Effects of preslaughter electrolyte supplementation on the hydration and meat quality of cull dairy cows. The Professional Animal Scientist 27: Beef Cattle Code of Practice The code of practice for the care and handling of beef cattle. National Farm Animal Care Council. Canadian Cattlemen s Association, Calgary, AB. Booth-McLean, M. E., Schwartzkopf-Genswein, K. S., Brown, F. A., Holmes, C. L., Schaefer, A. L., McAllister, T. A. and Mears, G. J Physiological and behavioural responses to short-haul transport by stock trailer in finished steers. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 87: Canadian Agri-Food Research Council Recommended code of practice for the care and handling of farm animals transportation CARC, Ottawa, ON. Canadian Council on Animal Care Guide to the care and use of experimental animals. Vol 1. 2nd ed. E. D. Olfert, B. M. Cross, and A. A. McWilliam, eds. CCAC, Ottawa, ON. Cook, N. J., Viera, D., Church, J. S. and Schaefer, A. L Dexamethasone reduces transport-induced weight losses in beef calves. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 89: Gonzalez, L. A., Schwartzkopg-Genswein, K. S., Bryan, M., Silasi, R. and Brown, F Factors affecting body weight

4 560 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE loss during commercial long haul transport of cattle in North America. J. Anim. Sci. 90: Grandin, T Livestock handling and transport. CAB Int., Wallingford, UK. National Research Council Nutrient requirements of beef cattle. 7th ed. National Research CouncilNational Academic Press, Washington, DC. Schaefer, A. L., Jones, S. D. M. and Stanley, R. W The use of electrolyte solutions for reducing transport stress. J. Anim. Sci. 75: Schaefer, A. L., Dubeski, P. L., Aalhus, J. L. and Tong, A. K. W Role of nutrition in reducing antemortem stress and meat quality aberrations. J. Anim. Sci. 79 (E Suppl.): 111. Schaefer, A. L., Stanley, R. W., Tong, A. K. W., Dubeski, P., Robinson, B., Aalhus, J. L. and Robertson, W. M The impact of antemortem nutrition in beef cattle on carcass yield and quality grade. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 86: Schwartzkopf-Genswein, K. S., Booth-McLean, M. E., Shah, M. A., Entz,T.,Bach,S.J.,Mears,G.J.,Schaefer,A.L.,Cook,N., Church, J. and McAllister, T. A Effects of pre haul management and transportation duration on beef calf performance and welfare. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 108:1230. Warriss, P. D Antemortem factors influencing the yield and quality of meat from farm animals. Pages 115 in S. D. Morgan Jones, ed. Quality and grading of carcasses of meat animals. CRC Press, Boca Raton. FL.

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