Safe handling of large animals.
Abstract: The major causes of accidents with cattle, horses, and other grazing animals are: panic due to fear, male dominance aggression, or the maternal aggression of a mother protecting her newborn. Danger is inherent when handling large animals. Understanding their behavior patterns improves safety, but working with animals will never be completely safe. Calm, quiet handling and non-slip flooring are beneficial. Rough handling and excessive use of electric prods increase chances of injury to both people and animals, because fearful animals may jump, kick, or rear. Training animals to voluntarily cooperate with veterinary procedures reduces stress and improves safety. Grazing animals have a herd instinct, and a lone, isolated animal can become agitated. Providing a companion animal helps keep an animal calm.
Publication Date: 1999-05-18 PubMed ID: 10329901
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Summary
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This research article focuses on the safe handling of large grazing animals like cattle and horses. It emphasizes the importance of understanding animal behavior, gentle handling, and providing a conducive environment to minimize accidents and injuries.
Causes of Accidents
- The research identifies panic due to fear, male dominance aggression, and maternal aggression in protecting newborns as the top causes of accidents with large animals.
- These animals can become unpredictable in stressful situations, leading to potentially dangerous accidents.
Importance of Understanding Animal Behavior
- The study stresses the importance of understanding animal behavior patterns to improve safety.
- By acknowledging that these animals react out of fear or protection, handlers can adjust their approaches to minimize stress and avoid confrontational situations.
Benefits of Calm and Quiet Handling
- This research suggests that calm and quiet handling can significantly enhance the safety of both animals and handlers.
- Rough handling and excessive use of electric prods make the animals fearful, which may elicit reactions such as jumping, kicking, or rearing, leading to injuries.
Training Animals
- Training animals to voluntarily cooperate with veterinary procedures can drastically reduce stress and improve safety.
- Good training can also ease the animals into unfamiliar situations without causing undue stress.
Role of Companions
- The research also suggests that providing a companion animal helps keep a lone, isolated animal calm.
- This is because grazing animals have a herd instinct and can become agitated when left alone.
Use of Non-Slip Flooring
- The study also notes the importance of using non-slip flooring when handling large animals.
- This reduces the chances of accidents due to slipping and panicking, thus enhancing safety for both animals and people.
Cite This Article
APA
Grandin T.
(1999).
Safe handling of large animals.
Occup Med, 14(2), 195-212.
Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80526, USA.
MeSH Terms
- Accidents, Occupational / prevention & control
- Accidents, Occupational / statistics & numerical data
- Aggression / physiology
- Aggression / psychology
- Animal Husbandry / methods
- Animals
- Behavior, Animal / physiology
- Cattle
- Conditioning, Operant / physiology
- Crowding / psychology
- Fear / physiology
- Fear / psychology
- Female
- Horses / physiology
- Horses / psychology
- Humans
- Male
- Movement / physiology
- Occupational Health
- Risk Factors
- Ruminants / physiology
- Ruminants / psychology
Citations
This article has been cited 12 times.- Sorby-Adams AJ, Marian OC, Bilecki IM, Elms LE, Camargo J, Hall K, Crowther RG, Leonard AV, Wadsworth GI, Spear JH, Turner RJ, Jones CF. Neurological scoring and gait kinematics to assess functional outcome in an ovine model of ischaemic stroke.. Front Neurol 2023;14:1071794.
- Supanta J, Brown JL, Bansiddhi P, Thitaram C, Punyapornwithaya V, Khonmee J. Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and international travel ban on elephant tourist camp management in northern Thailand.. Front Vet Sci 2022;9:1038855.
- Stenfelt J, Yngvesson J, Blokhuis HJ, Rørvang MV. Dairy cows did not rely on social learning mechanisms when solving a spatial detour task.. Front Vet Sci 2022;9:956559.
- Lindahl C, Bergman Bruhn Å, Andersson IM. Occupational Safety Climate in the Swedish Equine Sector.. Animals (Basel) 2022 Feb 11;12(4).
- Orihuela A, Galina CS. The Effect of Maternal Behavior around Calving on Reproduction and Wellbeing of Zebu Type Cows and Calves.. Animals (Basel) 2021 Nov 5;11(11).
- Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Depner K, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Gortázar Schmidt C, Herskin M, Michel V, Miranda Chueca MÁ, Roberts HC, Sihvonen LH, Spoolder H, Stahl K, Velarde A, Viltrop A, Candiani D, Van der Stede Y, Winckler C. Welfare of cattle during killing for purposes other than slaughter on-farm killing of cattle.. EFSA J 2020 Nov;18(11):e06312.
- Nivelle B, Vermeulen L, Van Beirendonck S, Van Thielen J, Driessen B. Horse Transport to Three South American Horse Slaughterhouses: A Descriptive Study.. Animals (Basel) 2020 Apr 1;10(4).
- Bansiddhi P, Brown JL, Thitaram C, Punyapornwithaya V, Somgird C, Edwards KL, Nganvongpanit K. Changing trends in elephant camp management in northern Thailand and implications for welfare.. PeerJ 2018;6:e5996.
- Chapman M, Thompson K. Preventing and Investigating Horse-Related Human Injury and Fatality in Work and Non-Work Equestrian Environments: A Consideration of the Workplace Health and Safety Framework.. Animals (Basel) 2016 May 6;6(5).
- Thomas KE, Annest JL, Gilchrist J, Bixby-Hammett DM. Non-fatal horse related injuries treated in emergency departments in the United States, 2001-2003.. Br J Sports Med 2006 Jul;40(7):619-26.
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- Exadaktylos AK, Eggli S, Inden P, Zimmermann H. Hoof kick injuries in unmounted equestrians. Improving accident analysis and prevention by introducing an accident and emergency based relational database.. Emerg Med J 2002 Nov;19(6):573-5.
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