Transport, saleyards and MSA
A 400 kg steer can lose 25 kg in the first 6 hours off feed and water.
Every trip costs weight, and for slaughter cattle, stress before the trip can cost grading too. Most of the early loss is gut fill that comes back. The rest is real weight that takes days or weeks to recover.
What’s going on
Gut fill makes up 12 to 25% of an adult animal’s liveweight. A 400 kg animal can lose around 25 kg in 6 hours, 27 kg in 12 hours and 32 kg in 24 hours, and generally takes 10 to 21 days to recover it.[1]
Stress uses up glycogen, the energy stored in muscle. If it’s too low at slaughter, the meat’s pH stays high and the carcase is dark cutting. Ultimate pH above 5.70 fails MSA grading. Handling, mixing mobs and long periods off feed are the biggest drivers. Cattle on a good, rising plane of nutrition in the 2 to 3 weeks before slaughter have more glycogen to spare.[2,3]
What to watch for
- Mixing mobs within 2 weeks of slaughter or dispatch
- Rough or noisy handling, dogs and repeated yarding before trucking
- Holding cattle overnight in yards before trucking
- Cattle that aren’t fit to load (lame, weak or sick). Cows in late pregnancy should not be trucked.
- Slow return to feed and water after arrival
Under the Land Transport Standards, the maximum time off water is 48 hours for most cattle over 6 months, and 24 hours for lactating cows with unweaned calves, calves aged 30 days to 6 months and cows 24 to 37 weeks pregnant.[4]
Nutrition at this stage
- Energy: a good, rising plane of nutrition before slaughter builds muscle glycogen, the buffer against dark cutting.
- Water and electrolytes: dehydration drives much of the weight loss and slows recovery.
- Zinc, selenium and copper: support immune function, which stress pushes down for days after the trip.
- Amino acids such as threonine, arginine and glutamic acid: support gut health and recovery under stress.
Cattle straight off lush feed aren’t necessarily better prepared. They carry more gut fill, drop more weight early and can scour on the truck.
Where LivestockIQ fits
Cattle on a year-round program travel with steadier reserves. StressGuard then gives targeted support for the event.
- Timing: dose 3 to 7 days before trucking. Never dose within 24 hours of loading.
- Rates: 20 mL (100 to 200 kg), 30 mL (201 to 300 kg), 40 mL (301 to 400 kg), 50 mL (401 kg plus and breeders).
- What it does: it helps support hydration, calmer travel and a faster return to feed and water, and may help reduce weight shrinkage. Lower stress before slaughter is well known to support meat quality and reduce the risk of dark cutting, and StressGuard helps support cattle through that stress.
- Trough, tank or hay: use the ProDispenser, add the full dose to the tank closest to the stock, or apply a third of the dose to hay on each of three days.
- Buying cattle in? Add StressGuard to the water as they arrive.
StressGuard replaces the regular dose. Allow at least 2 weeks since the last LivestockIQ dose. Follow the dose rates and instructions exactly, and don’t dose dehydrated animals.
FAQ
Can I dose StressGuard on the day the truck arrives?
No. That’s too late. Dose 3 to 7 days before trucking, and never within 24 hours of loading.
Sources
[1] FutureBeef, Liveweight loss and recovery in cattle.
[2] NSW DPIRD, Dark cutting beef: cattle management.
[3] FutureBeef, Meat Standards Australia (MSA).
[4] Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines: Land Transport of Livestock (as adopted in NSW, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Land Transport of Livestock) Regulation 2013).
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