A review of the causes, prevention, and welfare of nonambulatory cattle.

A major animal welfare issue facing the livestock industry is the care, handling, and transport of nonambulatory cattle. Consumers, researchers, practitioners , and animal protection organizations have questioned the quality of care provided to and management of nonambulatory cattle and raised questions about possible food safety concerns. Veterinarians and producers continue to be challenged with providing quality care for nonambulatory cattle. In addition, veterinarians are recognized as a credible source of information for consumers , regulators, and policy makers. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide peer-reviewed information to practitioners and others who must make clinical and policy decisions. Several sources a-f were searched by use of various key words to identify relevant peer-reviewed citations for the information reported here. In addition, governmental and lay reports were reviewed to ascertain policies , regulations, and historical data concerning non-ambulatory cattle. Existing peer-reviewed information was considered adequate by the authors for the development of recommended on-farm management practices that could result in a decrease in the incidence of, an improvement in the prognosis for, and a benefit to the well-being of nonambulatory cattle. Wide variation exists in the case definition and related terms applied to nonambulatory cattle. The colloquial term downer has been used since the 1950s to describe cattle that are too injured, weak, or sick to stand and walk. 1 The term creeper has been used to describe cattle that are unable to use their hind limbs but that could propel themselves short distances with their forelimbs. 2 More recently, the term downer has commonly denoted cattle that are unable to stand after 24 hours of recum-bency but that can maintain sternal recumbency. 3 Such cattle are sometimes referred to as alert downers to differentiate them from lethargic or moribund recumbent cattle that are unable to stand. The inclusion criteria A review of the causes, prevention, and welfare of nonambulatory cattle used to define cattle as nonambulatory are critically important when making comparisons among scientific studies, particularly when examining incidence rates and prognosis. The incidence of nonambulatory cattle in the United States has been estimated in a number of surveys conducted by industry, academia, and the government. Assessments of culled cattle in holding pens at 21 slaughter facilities throughout the United States provided estimated overall incidences of 1.15% 4 and 0.8% 5 for nonambulatory cattle during 1994 and 1999, respectively. Based on estimates of the number of non-fed cattle slaughtered …