Developing the basis for an attitude-behaviour training program for stockpeople in the sheep transport and abattoir sectors

Summary

Our previous research at Australian abattoirs indicates that while there is considerable variation, both between and within abattoirs, pre-slaughter handling of sheep is a significant predictor of the stress state, based on plasma cortisol concentrations, and the metabolic state, based on plasma glucose and lactate, of sheep at slaughter. For example, in our most recent research, higher concentrations of plasma cortisol, glucose and lactate were associated with longer durations of aggressive dog and negative stockperson behaviour and lambs jumping and attempting to escape in the forcing pen and the single file race leading to the stunning area of the abattoir. These relationships indicate that handling stress pre-slaughter has implications for both sheep welfare and meat quality. Furthermore, our research has identified some of the attitudes of abattoir stockpeople that are related to their behaviour during handling, as well as their use of dogs in handling sheep. As we have shown in research on livestock in farm settings, cognitive-behavioural training targeting the key attitudes and behaviour of stockpeople associated with handling stress is successful in improving stockperson attitudes and behaviour, and subsequently reducing handling stress and thus improving livestock productivity and welfare. While the significant stockperson-sheep relationships that we have found at abattoirs suggest the possibility of causality, evidence of causality can only be demonstrated by changes in handling of sheep affecting their stress and metabolic variables at slaughter. Thus, the effectiveness of a behavioural change training programme (based on cognitive-behavioural training) for sheep abattoir stockpeople to reduce handling stress in sheep needs to be evaluated under commercial conditions.

The present project was not a research proposal, but a project collaborating with key sheep-meat stakeholders (1) to review the need for and content of a cognitive-behavioural training programme for sheep transport and abattoir stockpeople designed to safeguard animal welfare and meat quality and therefore (2) to develop and evaluate, in collaboration with sheep-meat industry collaborators, the effectiveness and practicality of this training program in commercial settings (that is to validate this training programme). We therefore, presented the scientific basis for the development and use of this cognitive-behavioural training program to industry stakeholders in a series of workshops. We sought the support of these stakeholders to subsequently collaborate in future research to develop and evaluate in abattoirs the effectiveness and practicality of a cognitive-behavioural training programme in safeguarding sheep welfare and meat quality.
 
While there are various animal welfare training programmes and courses available to sheep handlers, these programmes/courses do not target the underlying attitudes that need to be changed to achieve sustained change in stockperson behaviour related to sheep stress and thus sheep welfare. These other animal welfare programmes/courses are educational programs that impart skills rather than behaviour change programs, that is, they provide information and advice on handling without targeting the specific attitudes of stockpeople that drive the key behaviours associated with sheep stress (and thus sheep welfare and meat quality). Technical skills and knowledge are important attributes of the work performance of stockpeople and, clearly, training targeting these attributes is important in improving animal welfare and performance via the technical skills and knowledge competencies of stockpeople. Indeed, our research on stockpeople in farm settings shows that both technical and cognitive-behaviour training are necessary to not only reduce the stress associated with handling and husbandry procedures involving humans, but also to improve the motivation in stockpeople to learn new technical skills and knowledge and to apply these competencies to the management of the animals under their care.