[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 97 (Friday, May 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24916-24917]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12376]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration
Livestock Care and Handling Guidelines; Comment Request
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Agency is proposing to issue livestock care and handling
guidelines to assist the industry in complying with the provisions of
the Packers and Stockyards Act.
DATES: Comments are invited and should be submitted by July 16, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to the Deputy Administrator, Packers
and Stockyards Programs, Room 3039, South Building, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250-2800. Comments received may be
inspected during normal business hours in the Office of the Deputy
Administrator, Packers and Stockyards Programs.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan Van Ackeren, Director, Livestock
Marketing Division, (202) 720-6951.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Because of public concerns, the Agency
initiated a program to review the services, facilities, and procedures
for receiving and handling livestock at all stockyards. Since May 1991,
the Agency has investigated over 1,400 stockyards to determine whether
the livestock handling practices, services, and facilities at these
stockyards were adequate to assure livestock are handled and cared for
properly. While most stockyards have adequate facilities and exercise
good animal care and handling practices, problems were found to exist
at some stockyards. Some of the problems encountered at stockyards
included: inadequate facilities; handling livestock in a manner that
could cause bruising, injury, or unnecessary suffering, including
excessive use of electric prods or other driving devices; overcrowding
in pens; and not handling nonambulatory or injured livestock promptly.
In addition, the Agency has received over 8,000 letters from animal
welfare groups or from individuals not identified as producers or as
members of any organization concerning the care and handling of
``downed'' animals at stockyards.
While the Agency already has a regulation (9 CFR 201.82) issued
under the provisions of the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act that
requires stockyard owners to exercise reasonable care and promptness in
providing stockyard services to prevent shrinkage, injury, death, or
other avoidable loss, that regulation does not adequately address the
specific problems found in the Agency's review of the livestock
handling practices, services, and facilities of stockyards. The Agency
believes issuing specific livestock care and handling guidelines to the
stockyard industry would be helpful in dealing with this issue.
After considering the results of over 1,400 stockyard reviews, and
the letters from concerned citizens, the Agency is proposing to publish
guidelines for the care and handling of livestock at stockyards to
assist the industry in complying with the provisions of the Packers and
Stockyards Act. The guidelines would advise stockyard owners that they
should maintain their facilities in a manner that avoids risk of
injury, bruising, unnecessary suffering and stress. The stockyards
would be advised to move, pen, and care for livestock in a manner that
protects the quality and value of the animal while also providing for
the animal's welfare. The guidelines would also advise stockyard owners
of the minimum standards the Agency considers necessary for handling
nonambulatory animals.
Section 301(b) of the Packers and Stockyards Act (7 U.S.C. 201(b))
defines ``stockyard services'' as any ``services or facilities
furnished at a stockyard in connection with the receiving, buying or
selling on a commission basis or otherwise, marketing, feeding,
watering, holding, delivery, shipment, weighing, or handling, in
commerce, of livestock.'' Section 304 (7 U.S.C. 205) provides that:
``All stockyard services furnished pursuant to reasonable request made
to a stockyard owner or market agency at such stockyard shall be
reasonable and nondiscriminatory and stockyard services, which are
furnished, shall not be refused on any basis that is unreasonable or
unjustly discriminatory * * *.''
Section 307(a) (7 U.S.C. 208(a)) provides that: ``It shall be the
duty of every stockyard owner and market agency to establish, observe,
and enforce just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory regulations and
practices in respect to the furnishing of stockyard services * * *.''
Section 312(a) (7 U.S.C. 213(a)) provides that: ``It shall be unlawful
for any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer to engage in or use
any unfair, unjustly discriminatory, or deceptive practice or device in
connection with determining whether persons should be authorized to
operate at the stockyards, or with the receiving, marketing, buying, or
selling on a commission basis or otherwise, feeding, watering, holding,
delivery, shipment, weighing, or handling of livestock.''
The Guidelines
Livestock in marketing channels should be handled and cared for in
a manner that is consistent with the animals' well-being and that
protects their quality and value. The Agency does not condone handling
livestock in any manner that is inconsistent with good animal husbandry
practices and
[[Page 24917]]
believes that the failure to provide proper care and handling increases
the risk of unnecessary loss to the seller and unnecessary suffering
for the animal. It is the Agency's view that stockyards should provide
appropriate facilities and follow animal care and handling practices
and procedures that minimize the risk of injury, death, or other
avoidable loss and avoid unnecessary suffering. Failure to provide
appropriate services as detailed in these guidelines could result in
the Agency's initiating an enforcement action brought pursuant to
Sections 304, 307, and 312 of the Packers and Stockyards Act.
1. Care and Handling of Livestock
(a) Livestock at stockyards should be handled in a manner that
protects the quality and value of the animal while also providing for
the animal's welfare. Stockyard owners should establish and enforce
practices and procedures that ensure the proper treatment of animals.
Adequate instruction should be given to employees and proper notice
given to truckers, market patrons, and other livestock handlers on the
livestock care and handling practices to be followed at the facility.
Abuse or mistreatment of animals should not be tolerated.
(b) Livestock facilities, including loading and unloading ramps,
gates, fences, scales, and equipment used to provide stockyard services
should be reasonably clean and well-maintained. Any object in the
facility or on equipment used around livestock that is likely to cause
bruising or injury to livestock, such as protruding nails, sharp edges,
extended bolts, gate hooks, latches and hinges, should be eliminated or
modified. All floors should be constructed or maintained in such a
manner that livestock can walk without slipping to prevent injuries
caused by falling down.
(c) Livestock of all species should be unloaded, yarded, moved
through the facility, and reloaded in a manner to avoid bruising,
injury, and unnecessary stress or suffering. When livestock are driven,
sorted, or otherwise moved about a facility, such movement should be
reasonably paced in a manner consistent with the type, temperament, and
condition of the livestock being handled and stockyard conditions.
(d) Livestock driving devices, such as electric prods, canes,
whips, paddles or canvas straps, should be used prudently and only to
the extent necessary to handle or move livestock. Generally, paddles
and canvas straps are equally effective and less likely than other
types of driving devices to cause bruising or unnecessary excitement
and stress. Electric prods should be of a commercial type designed for
use in moving livestock. All electric prodding devices should be used
sparingly in order to avoid unnecessary stress and risk of injury to
animals. Electric prods should never be applied to the rectum, vagina,
eyes, ears or mouth areas.
(e) Stockyards should provide adequate pen space for the number and
type of animals handled. Uncastrated mature males should be penned
individually if necessary to prevent fighting. Bulls should be penned
separately from cows and heifers to prevent mounting which can cripple
small or weak animals.
(f) The Agency recognizes that transportation factors, types of
livestock and animal nutrition requirements may make periods of
withdrawal from feed and water desirable. These periods do not pose a
threat to the quality and value of the animals if the animals are moved
promptly to their destination. However, livestock held overnight at a
stockyard, either before or after sale, should have access to feed and
water within 24 hours of receipt at the stockyard.
2. Care and Handling of Nonambulatory Livestock.
(a) Nonambulatory animals, also referred to as ``downed animals,''
are defined as those animals that are unable to stand or walk without
assistance. The Agency believes prompt action is the key to preventing
unnecessary suffering and protecting the economic value of
nonambulatory animals, whether the action is providing veterinary care,
transporting it to slaughter, euthanizing the animal, or taking some
other effective action.
(b) Stockyards should provide adequate facilities and equipment
necessary to handle any livestock they accept on consignment. If a
stockyard chooses to accept nonambulatory livestock or if an animal
becomes nonambulatory while at the stockyard, the stockyard should
provide the necessary equipment to handle the livestock humanely,
efficiently, and promptly to avoid unnecessary suffering and preserve
the quality and value of the animal.
(c) Stockyard owners should establish pre-planned procedures that
provide for assessing the condition of a nonambulatory animal and the
options available for its care so prompt decisions can be made on its
disposition and removal from the facility.
(d) Nonambulatory animals require special equipment for their
handling and movement within the stockyard facility to avoid the risk
of further injury and unnecessary suffering. Such equipment may include
a front-end loader, sled, belt or mat slide, specialized hoists or
slings, or a combination of these devices. Special care should be taken
when moving or loading nonambulatory animals onto a suitable
conveyance. Nonambulatory animals should be gently rolled onto the
conveyance, and an animal should not be shoved against a wall or fence
to get it into a loader bucket.
(e) Stockyards that cannot provide proper care in handling
nonambulatory livestock or do not have the required special equipment
should adopt a policy of refusing to accept such livestock. Further, if
an animal becomes nonambulatory while at such facility, the stockyard
should promptly euthanize the animal before moving it or secure the
prompt services of a veterinarian or other third party with the
necessary equipment to provide proper care and handling for the animal.
(f) Dragging of a nonambulatory animal by its limbs is undesirable
and should be avoided. In situations where an animal must be moved to
accommodate a suitable conveyance, then padded belts should be attached
to two noninjured limbs and the rope, cable, or chain attached to the
belts. Animals should never be pulled by the neck. If these techniques
for movement of the animal are not practical, then the animal should be
promptly euthanized.
(g) Separate pens should be provided for weak, injured, and
nonambulatory livestock. Such pens should be located for ease of access
by specialized equipment. Feed and water should also be provided for
the nonambulatory livestock.
(h) When an animal becomes nonambulatory, its condition should be
promptly assessed, a decision made as to the proper care or disposition
of the animal, and appropriate actions should be taken to protect its
quality and value and to avoid unnecessary suffering. When it is
determined that an animal should be euthanized, then the action should
be taken promptly and humanely without awaiting the arrival of a
rendering service.
(Authority: 7 U.S.C. 228(a); 7 CFR 2.22, 2.81)
Done at Washington, D.C. this 13th day of May 1996.
James R. Baker,
Administrator Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-12376 Filed 5-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-EN-P
