Linking livestock welfare and veterinary medicine

Temple Grandin, PhD, is director of animal well-being for Fear Free’s new curriculum on livestock management techniques. In farming, productivity is the name of the game, however, it does not have to compete with kindness. In fact, the two go hand in hoof. Productivity rises when animals lead less stressed, more enriched lives. That is not news, but veterinarians can play an important role in helping it to happen. However, there’s a shortage of large-animal veterinarians and no signs that the situation will improve any time soon. The shortage of livestock veterinarians is a critical factor in the future of livestock care. Can advances in livestock welfare help to draw more students into large-animal medicine? As Fear Free enters the arena of livestock medicine—which like zoological medicine has already recognized the importance of low-stress handling—the organization is hoping the answer is in the affirmative. This article takes a look at once and future farm animals, their care and management, the increasing recognition of the interdependence of human, animal and environmental health through One Health and One Welfare changes,1 and the potential effects on large-animal medicine. Cattle comfort Over the past 25 years, life for cows has become more comfortable. “Great milk comes from happy cows” is not just an ad slogan. For cattle, as well as horses and other livestock, including sheep, goats, and chickens, improvements in management and husbandry have led to better-designed chutes, cleaner and more comfortable bedding and stalls, non-slip flooring, breeding for temperament, better healthcare practices such as changing needles between vaccinations, low-stress handling, and environmental enrichment. A calm approach is standard now. Lew Strickland, DVM, DACT, associate professor of animal science at University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, likes the saying: the fastest way to work cattle is to slow down. “None of this cowboy yelling and yipping and screaming and hitting,” he says. “Just slowing things down, letting the cattle move freely like they want to. We do the same thing with horses. We have created systems to where it is calmer, a lot less stressful on that animal, to make it better for them.” Dr. Strickland knows whereof he speaks. He has been around livestock his entire life. As well as being a veterinarian, he has also been a dairy farmer. Music, massage, and treats promote bovine happiness, says Marty Becker, DVM, founder of Fear Free. Dairies play music and have back-scratching stations. A pleasant tone sounds to alert cows warm sweet feed is available. Robotic milkers clean and massage the udders before milking begins, and cows can choose when to be milked. Fear Free founder Dr. Marty Becker's menagerie he grew up with included dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses. Today his farm includes horses. Courtesy Teresa Becker. “It is all very pleasurable for them, but guess what? They give more milk,” says Dr. Becker, who, like Strickland, comes from a farm background. His family raised dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses, and he currently has horses at his Almost Heaven Ranch in Idaho. “There’s quite a bit of research on how music causes cows to relax and give more milk, and when they’re walking toward that sweet feed, there’s the sound of a mother cow vocalizing to her calf. That sound works throughout the cow’s life to relax her.” Old-school livestock handlers might consider this coddling, but science bears out the benefits. Animals that are less stressed are more productive.2 Classical music and lullabies are favorites of cows, poultry, and pigs.3 “They’re going to produce more milk, more eggs, more meat,” Strickland says. While there were not studies then to show that, Becker says his own parents, R.J. and Virginia Becker, established many positive practices on their farm, seeing the benefits. That background is one of the reasons Fear Free is adding livestock management techniques to its curriculum, which will be overseen by Temple Grandin, PhD, serving as director of animal well-being. Dr. Grandin herself, who is professor of animal science at Colorado State University, began learning cattle handling as a teenager while living on her aunt’s farm. Ensuring better, less stressful handling of cattle became her life’s work and helped to change the industry. Programs such as Beef Quality Assurance, which started by studying injection site problems, such as abscesses and scar tissue caused by not changing needles, Strickland says, now work to ensure proper healthcare, better designed equipment, handling methods, breeding techniques, and behavior genetics, to name just a few. There are quality assurance programs for other farm animals, too, including sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens. The changes that have been implemented over the past 25 years are important, Grandin says, but more can be done. She is concerned about overcrowding in feed yards and over selection for traits such as weight without consideration for the side effects. “Right now, we’re breeding cattle for more and more meat and they’re getting leg problems and heart problems,” Grandin says. “If I’m going to have good, low-stress handling, I’ve got to have animals that can walk, and if they have bad feet, they may not walk very well.” The same types of problems affect commercial poultry. Unbalanced genetic selection for productivity traits over metabolic or physiological traits can lead to increased incidence of metabolic disease, and rapid growth rate is associated with a greater occurrence of meat quality defects and less reproductive success.4 Temple Grandin cites safety for both people and cattle when using low-stress methods when working with large animals. Avoiding hazards through smart handling Changing breeding for excess weight, whether in cattle, chickens, or pigs, is not something that can be fixed overnight, but until then using proper handling methods protects human lives, as well as valuable livestock.5 “With large animals like cattle, if you use low-stress methods, it is much safer,” Grandin says. “You’re much less likely to have an accident where either you or the animal gets injured.” It is one of the first things Strickland teaches his students, noting that few have any experience with large animals. Only about one percent come from a farm background or have been on a farm, he says. He explains to them how cows move through the chute system, how to approach a horse, and how to avoid loud noises or sudden movements that could frighten an animal. A primary safety factor in low-stress or Fear Free handling is simply accustoming animals to human presence. Good handling takes knowing where to stand—behind the shoulder of cattle, not in front of them—and lots of walking, Grandin says, especially with cattle and pigs. Being used to people makes it easier and safer to load them onto trucks for market. “It is very important on the farm for the producer to walk quietly through the pens so the pigs get used to people,” she says. “If you don’t walk the pens and the first time they see a person is inside the pens, they’re likely to go crazy.” Moving herd animals such as pigs and cattle onto transport or into the meat plant in small numbers also helps to reduce their stress, which improves meat quality. Grandin recommends moving no more than three to five market-weight pigs onto a truck at a time, for instance. Throughout the process, nonslip flooring is essential for all livestock. Good footing provides a feeling of security. When Grandin evaluates plants, flooring is often the main thing that requires improvement but says it is generally an easy, inexpensive fix. When she began training employees of McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King in 1999 how to assess handling and stunning at slaughter plants, Grandin developed a simple assessment of handling that looked at such factors as how many animals fell down, how many bellowed when handled, how many were prodded with electricity, and how many were not placed correctly in a squeeze chute. All are easily measured to determine whether or not handling is improving. Out of 74 large beef and pork plants that she worked with, only three needed to upgrade by purchasing expensive equipment. “Everybody else we fixed with repairs, training, nonslip flooring, maybe changing some lighting, and lots more supervision and training of employees,” she says. Temple Grandin confirms the need for more large-animal veterinarians, especially for cattle. She hopes Fear Free training will help to encourage interest in the field, as well as continue to increase productivity and improve animal welfare. Courtesy Dr. Lew Strickland Reducing pain, increasing treats Grandin also encourages greater use of pain management to reduce livestock stress during procedures such as castration or disbudding of calves. Use of opioids is restricted, but meloxicam and lidocaine can help. “Using lidocaine definitely helps because if the animal does not associate the pain with being handled, they’re more willing to come back in the chute the next time,” Grandin says. “A lot of dairies use lidocaine for disbudding dairy calves. I definitely want to encourage that.” Pain relief and stress relief are important for productivity, too. Stress hormones can make livestock more prone to illness and negatively affect meat quality, causing toughness. Trembling, tail switching, biting, kicking, defecating, and showing the whites of the eyes are all clear signs of stress in livestock. Absence of those signs means handlers are doing a good job of reducing stress. “If your cattle handling facility stays nice and clean, then you didn’t scare the you-know-what out of them,” Grandin says. Sources point out treats are not just for pets. Giving cattle some flaked corn or a nice pat gets results. It might not be possible in a large feed yard, but cattle or other livestock rewarded by people are not afraid to approach them, be handled by them, or to go into squeeze chutes for vaccinations or other procedures. Dr. Marty Becker proving treats are an incentive for animals of all sizes and species, not just cats and dogs. Courtesy Teresa Becker Becker tells the story of a herd of horses at Cornell that frequently underwent blood draws. They would run away every time they saw the ambulatory truck drive up. The decision was made to change the procedure by going out from time to time to give the horses treats without doing a blood draw, to give them treats when blood was drawn, and to use smaller gauge needles and Fear Free handling. Now when the horses hear or see the truck, they run toward it because the simple changes taught them to anticipate something pleasurable. Technology forward Equipment has also changed extensively to aid livestock safety, movement, productivity, and handling. Known as precision livestock farming, it ranges from wearables that track daily movement to drones that allow visualization of animals without a human presence. The generally noninvasive methods aid in identification, recognition of health problems such as coughing or signs of heat stress, temperature monitoring, and analyzing group behavior.6 “There's all sorts of technology that is working on, once again, keeping that animal stress-free or low stress,” Strickland says. However, improving technology is not a one-and-done deal. In all these areas, management is key to improving welfare and changing poor practices. The human element is essential and is sometimes the most difficult to change. “One of the mistakes that gets made with technical people is they think, ‘If I buy the thing, everything’s going to be wonderful,’” Grandin says. “It makes it a lot easier, but you also have to have the management commitment to handling animals in a low-stress manner. Management has to be committed to getting rid of rough practices and using low-stress techniques, and it is the same thing in a veterinary clinic. I just can’t emphasize that enough.” Fear Free is not a quick fix, she adds, whether with cattle or with pets. There is always going to be a learning curve, but after the first weeks of training, handling becomes easier, faster, and kinder. Changes in attitudes Getting people to recognize the benefits of low-stress handling may be the most difficult challenge in livestock management and veterinary care. Individuals in agriculture may have learned from their parents to do things a certain way, but some of those healthcare practices may not have been the best or have changed over the years. “A lot of times it is hard to change folks’ minds,” Strickland says, but generational change is beginning to make a difference. Becker notes a growing awareness that animals deserve to have “a life worth living.” Animal welfare has moved from the five freedoms7 to the more positive animal welfare assessment of the five domains.8 It is now recognized animal welfare should be more than meeting basic needs. It should also respect their emotional needs. “That means the animals get to experience positive behaviors unique to their species,” Becker says. “Horses like to mutually groom each other. Cows like to graze, and pigs like to root. They get a chance to do that. They get to experience pleasurable behaviors.” Future livestock veterinarians Agriculture is big business around the world, so why are fewer veterinary students pursuing a career in large-animal medicine? Strickland cannot speak for all veterinary students or veterinarians, but he knows from his own experience that caring for livestock is a hard life, and one that is not always rewarding, either personally or financially. In rural areas, veterinarians go to the animal. They spend a lot of time driving and less time treating patients. Programs are available that offer incentives for veterinarians to practice in rural areas, but they may not offer enough financial support for new veterinarians to pay off what can be a student-loan debt of $150,000 to $200,000. It is not surprising to Strickland that graduates may choose to practice in an area where they are offered attractive hiring packages and salaries that will allow them to pay off educational loans. “If you’re in a small-animal practice, animals come to you all day long. If you’re running the roads, you’re spending windshield time and you’re not seeing an animal at all. That is kind of difficult to pay the bills if you’re just riding down the road.” An "exam room" for cattle requires veterinarians to get in the car and go to the ranch or farm; the travel time involved can affect a doctor’s bottom line, potentially one of the reasons for the shortage in large animal veterinarians. Courtesy Dr. Lew Strickland Factor in farmers and ranchers may be reluctant to call a veterinarian without first trying to treat an animal themselves. That is not conducive to building a long-term relationship between veterinarian and agriculturalist. Strickland spends a lot of time talking to producers about the benefits of having veterinarians come out to their farm on a regular basis. It is a long, slow process, he says. Complaints range from, “Veterinarians charge too much” to, “We can’t get a veterinarian to come out.” He understands why veterinarians may be reluctant to come out to a producer who calls only once a year or so for a cow calving. “If that producer’s only going to call me every once in a while, I’m not going to be that excited about going to that place.” However, recognition of the concept of the veterinarian as another set of eyes on the farm and source of expert advice, as well as a new ruling that a producer must have a prescription from a veterinarian before being able to obtain antibiotics, may help to drive change, Strickland says. Nonetheless, it is hard to argue livestock medicine is not hard on the body. Strickland has had back surgeries and injections, hernias repaired, and now has a pacemaker with a defibrillator. “I’ve been in the dairy business for 25 years. I’ve also been a large animal practitioner for 25 years. It is a tough lifestyle.” Can Fear Free training help to draw more young veterinarians into the field? Strickland is not so sure. Even with better working conditions, low-stress handling, and better designed equipment, it is still a rough lifestyle, he says. Becker is more hopeful being able to contribute to the physical welfare and emotional well-being of livestock could help to interest more students in working with them. He says just the thought of the changes he has seen in his lifetime in the ways animals are handled sends a shiver down his spine—in a good way. The thought of being able to contribute to improved livestock welfare may be attractive to some new veterinarians, he says. Grandin confirms the need for more large-animal veterinarians, especially for cattle. She, too, hopes Fear Free training will help to encourage interest in the field, as well as continue to increase productivity and improve animal welfare. When she speaks to students, she finds many are interested in learning more about animal behavior and handling, both in pets and in livestock. It is important that the veterinary profession is officially recognizing better methods of handling animals, Grandin says. “It’s the right thing to do.” Kim Campbell Thornton, a frequent contributor to Veterinary Practice News, has been writing about dogs, cats, wildlife, and marine life since 1985, and is a recipient of multiple awards for her articles and books from the Cat Writers Association, Dog Writers Association of America, and American Society of Journalists and Authors. References Buller H, Blokhuis H, Jensen P, Keeling L. Towards Farm Animal Welfare and Sustainability. Animals (Basel). 2018 May 25;8(6):81 Front. Anim. Sci., 24 March 2021Sec. Animal Welfare and Policy Volume 2 – 2021. Ciborowska P, Michalczuk M, Bień D. The Effect of Music on Livestock: Cattle, Poultry and Pigs. Animals (Basel). 2021 Dec 16;11(12):3572. doi: 10.3390/ani11123572. PMID: 34944347; PMCID: PMC8698046. Korver, DR. Review: Current challenges in poultry nutrition, health, and welfare. Animal, Volume 17, Supplement 2, June 2023, 100755. https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/pubs_ext_vt_edu/en/APSC/APSC-167/APSC-167.html Racewicz P, Ludwiczak A, Skrzypczak E, et al. Welfare Health and Productivity in Commercial Pig Herds. Animals (Basel). 2021 Apr 20;11(4):1176. doi: 10.3390/ani11041176. PMID: 33924224; PMCID: PMC8074599. https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-are-the-five-freedoms-of-animal-welfare/ Webster, J. Animal Welfare: Freedoms, Dominions and “A Life Worth Living”. Animals 2016, 6, 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6060035

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Linking livestock welfare and veterinary medicine

Fear Free adds livestock management techniques to its curriculum, overseen by Temple Grandin, PhD, director of animal well-being.

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