An outlook on livestock welfare conditions in African communities - A review

A significant proportion of the African continent is conducive for animal agricultural production, due to its historical experience and available resources to accommodate and nurture various indigenous and exotic animal species and breeds. With food security being a global challenge, animal products can play an important role as nutrient dense food sources in human diets, particularly in Africa. However, this does not seem to reach its full potential in practice, due to numerous reasons that have not been adequately addressed. Animal welfare reservations can be highlighted as one of the major contributing factors to the curbed progress. The consequences have been scientifically proven to affect product quality and market access. However, in the African community, the concept of animal welfare has not been fully embraced. While there are international animal welfare standards in the developed world, there are inherent factors that hinder adoption of such initiatives in most developing regions, particularly among communal farmers. These include cultural norms and practices, social ranking, socio-economic status, available resources, information dissemination and monitoring tools. Therefore, there is need to harmonize what is internationally required and what is feasible to accommodate global variability. The protocols followed to ensure and evaluate farm animal welfare require regular investigation, innovation and a sustainable approach to enhance animal productivity, efficiency and product quality. Additionally, investing in animal wellbeing and health, as well as empowering communities with significant knowledge, has a potential to improve African livelihoods and contribute to food security. This review seeks to highlight the concept of animal welfare in relation to livestock and food production in African conditions.

Farm to abattoir conditions, animal factors and their subsequent effects on cattle behavioural responses and beef quality - A review

The current review seeks to highlight the concerns that have been raised on pre-slaughter stress, contributing factors and its consequent effects on cattle behavioural responses and the quality of beef; inter-linking the activities involved from birth to slaughter. Such information is crucial in light of the consumer concerns on overall animal welfare, quality of meat and food security. Slaughter animals are exposed to different conditions during production and transportation to abattoirs on a daily basis. However; the majority of studies that have been done previously singled out different environments in the meat production chain, while conclusions have been made that the welfare of slaughter animals and the quality of meat harvested from them is dependent on the whole chain. Behaviour is a critical component used to evaluate the animals' wellbeing and it has been reported to have an effect on product quality. Apart from the influence of on-farm, transportation and abattoir conditions, the genetic background of the animal also affects how it perceives and responds to certain encounters. Stress activates the animals' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity, triggering release of various stress hormones such as catecholamines and cortisol, thus glycogen depletion prior slaughter, elevated ultimate pH and poor muscle-meat conversion. Pre-slaughter stress sometimes results to cattle attaining bruises, resulting to the affected parts of the carcass being trimmed and condemned for human consumption, downgrading of the carcass and thus profit losses.

Influence of Municipal Abattoir Conditions and Animal-related Factors on Avoidance-related Behaviour, Bleeding Times at Slaughter and the Quality of Lamb Meat

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of municipal abattoir conditions and animal factors on avoidance-related behaviour (AB) of sheep at slaughter, bleeding times (BT) and mutton quality. The behaviour of 66 castrates and 19 ewes of different age categories was observed at three stages of slaughter. Higher behaviour scores indicated higher levels of AB. Time intervals between the start of blood flow and the time the flow changed from a constant stream into drips were recorded as BT. Thirty two meat samples were obtained to measure quality variables. These were colour (L*, a* and b*), pH₂₄, temperature, cooking loss (CL) and tenderness. Correlations were determined between BT and meat quality variables. Animal behaviour at slaughter differed with breed, gender and age group. Avoidance behaviour was higher in the Dorper breed than in both the Merino breed and their crosses. It was also higher in younger (<10 months) lambs than in older sheep. Castrates were more aggressive or in panic than ewes. Castrates had longer (72.6±0.53 s) BT than the ewes (63.6±2.82 s). Ewes had higher CL (39.8±1.04%) values than castrates (35.1±0.95%). Meat from castrates was tougher (32.6±1.95 N) than the meat from ewes (24.3±1.16 N). There were no significant correlations obtained between BT and meat quality variables. It can therefore be concluded that abattoir conditions, breed, age and gender had an effect on AB at slaughter. Gender had an effect on BT and mutton quality.