Intrinsic and environmental factors in the pre-slaughter behavior of beef cattle

The effect of pre-slaughter risk factors was evaluated on the behavior of 2,124 batches of steers and 1,937 batches of females. The factors that caused excitable behavior in the batches were sex, handling practices, vehicle load density, travel time and carcass fat. Sex had the greatest influence on behavior, with the female batches being 70.7% more likely to display excitable behavior. In the overall analysis, the condition of the installations and the handling practices influenced the appearance of excitable behavior in the female batches, which increased by 31.1% and 38.8% when the conditions were regular and inappropriate, respectively, compared to when the handling was appropriate; behavior in the batches of steers was also affected. There was a greater chance of excitable behavior appearing in batches where the journey lasted longer than 360 min, when the batches were analyzed together or when separated by sex. Increases in load density (kg/m2) caused a greater chance of excitable behavior regardless of the sex of the cattle. In animals with a calmer behavior, the fat cover on the carcass was thicker. Appropriate handling on the farms, and care with animal welfare when loading and transporting the cattle, determine less-reactive behavior.