Route optimization as an instrument to improve animal welfare and economics in pre-slaughter logistics

Route optimization as an instrument to improve animal welfare and economics in pre-slaughter logistics

Each year, more than three million animals are transported from farms to abattoirs in Sweden. Animal transport is related to economic and environmental costs and a negative impact on animal welfare. Time and the number of pick-up stops between farms and abattoirs are two key parameters for animal welfare. Both are highly dependent on efficient and qualitative transportation planning, which may ...

Economics and Farm Animal Welfare

Auditing animal welfare at slaughter plants.

The OIE Welfare Standards on slaughter transport, and killing of animals for disease control are basic minimum standards that every country should follow. The OIE, European Union, and many private standards used by commercial industry have an emphasis on animal based outcome standards instead of engineering based standards. Numerical scoring is used by both private industry and some governments...

Pre-slaughter conditions, animal stress and welfare: current status and possible future research.

The present paper describes the main procedures used to slaughter fowl, pigs, calves and adult cattle, sheep, and farmed fish, starting on the farm and ending with the death of the animal at the abattoir. It reviews the currently known causes of stress, indicated by behavioural and physiological measurements on the animal level, and by post-mortem muscle metabolism. During the pre-slaughter per...

The Economics of Animal Health and Welfare

Introduction There are many definitions of the term ‘animal welfare’ (Swanson, 1995; Spedding, 2000). For instance: “welfare is normally defined as a state of well-being, in which at least basic needs are met and suffering is minimized” (Spedding, 2000, p.9). This is a simplistic definition, which deals mainly with an animal’s physical needs and implies that suffering can only be minimised. Thi...