Livestock Care and Handling Guidelines; Comment Request

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

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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