How is cow slaughtered in usa

Following their brutal round of carbon dioxide, pigs—like cattle—are slashed across the throat and left to bleed. Then—like chickens—they might be lowered into vats of hot water or resin to loosen their hair.

Alternatively, their hair might be scraped with a special knife or, in some cases, a gas torch. These pigs are then sawed and split down their backbones. Their organs are removed one at a time. If the animals are stunned correctly, they might suffer little pain afterwards—or even none at all.

When their throats are slashed. When their bodies are boiled. When their limbs are severed. And the physical anguish of this punishment is only exacerbated by the emotional trauma that begins as soon as the animals arrive at the slaughterhouse. Too disoriented to make it all the way from the transport truck to the kill floor. Too distressed by the shrill screams and bleats and cries that echo around them.

However, this law is riddled with problems. Moreover, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act is easy to avoid and notoriously difficult to enforce. Animals must also be able to walk into the slaughterhouse on their own. Sadly, many animals are so sick or so injured, with broken bones or lame feet, that they cannot carry their own weight from the truck to the kill floor. The realities of animal slaughter are hard to confront, especially when violations of laws like the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act are so rampant—and especially when the sheer number of animals killed every day, every week, every year are so staggering.

Are you ready to speak out against slaughterhouses and the meat industry? You can start by telling the largest chicken meat companies to stop boiling birds alive—a heartbreaking end to their lives, that no being should endure.

Already a sustainer? Manage monthly gifts. What Is Animal Slaughter? They are wide through the back and loin and have slightly greater width through the shoulders and rounds than through the back. The top is well-rounded with little evidence of flatness and the back and loin are thick and full. The rounds are thick, full, and deep and the thickness through the middle part of the rounds is greater than that over the top.

There is a slightly thick covering of fat over the back and rump and the flanks are slightly deep. The brisket and cod or udder are slightly full. Thinly muscled cattle typical of the minimum of this grade have a relatively low proportion of lean to bone. Cattle qualifying for the minimum of Yield Grade 1 will differ widely in quality grade as a result of variations in distribution of finish and firmness of muscling.

Yield Grade 3 slaughter cattle produce carcasses with intermediate yields of boneless retail cuts. Cattle with characteristics qualifying them for the lower limits of Yield Grade 3 near the borderline between Yield Grades 3 and 4 will differ considerably in appearance because of inherent differences in the development of their muscling and skeletal systems and related differences in fatness.

Cattle qualifying for the minimum of Yield Grade 3 will differ greatly in quality grade as a result of wide variations in distribution of finish and firmness of muscling. Yield Grade 4 slaughter cattle produce carcasses with moderately low yields of boneless retail cuts. Cattle with characteristics qualifying them for the lower limits of Yield Grade 4 near the borderline between Yield Grades 4 and 5 will differ considerably in appearance because of inherent differences in the development of their muscling and skeletal systems and related differences in fatness.

Thinly muscled cattle typical of the minimum of this grade have a relatively low ratio of lean to bone. Cattle qualifying for the minimum of Yield Grade 4 will differ somewhat in quality grade as a result of variations in distribution of the finish and firmness of muscling. Yield Grade 5 slaughter cattle produce carcasses with low yields of boneless retail cuts. Cattle of this grade consist of those not meeting the minimum requirements for Yield Grade 4 because of either more fat or less muscle or a combination of these characteristics.

Menu Agricultural Marketing Service. Slaughter Cattle Grades and Standards. Bullocks qualifying for the minimum of the Prime grade will differ considerably in cutability because of varying combinations of muscling and degree of fatness. The slaughtering of sheep, calves and swine with the use of carbon dioxide gas and the handling in connection therewith, in compliance with the provisions contained in this section, are hereby designated and approved as humane methods of slaughtering and handling of such animals under the Act.

The animals shall be exposed to the carbon dioxide gas in a way that will accomplish the anesthesia quickly and calmly, with a minimum of excitement and discomfort to the animals. In swine, carbon dioxide may be administered to induce death in the animals before they are shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut.

Delivery of calm animals to the anesthesia chamber is essential since the induction, or early phase, of anesthesia is less violent with docile animals. Among other things this requires that, in driving animals to the anesthesia chamber, electrical equipment be used as little as possible and with the lowest effective voltage. Asphyxia or death from any cause shall not be produced in animals before bleeding, except for swine in which death has been induced by the administration of carbon dioxide.

Two types of tunnels, based on the same principle, are in common use for carbon dioxide anesthesia. The tunnels are open at both ends for entry and exit of animals and have a depressed central section. Anesthetizing, or, in the case of swine, death-inducing, carbon dioxide concentrations are maintained in the central sections of the tunnels.

Effective anaesthetization is produced in these central sections. Animals are driven from holding pens through pathways constructed of large-diameter pipe or smooth metal and onto continuous conveyor devices that move the animals through the tunnels.

The animals are either compartmentalized on the conveyors by mechanical impellers synchronized with the conveyor or they are otherwise prevented from crowding. While impellers are used to compartmentalize the animals, mechanically or manually operated gates are used to move the animals onto the conveyors. Surgically anaesthetized animals, or killed swine, are moved out of the tunnels by the same continuous conveyors that moved them into and through the carbon dioxide gas.

The operation or stoppage of the conveyor is entirely dependent upon this operator. It is necessary that he be skilled, attentive, and aware of his responsibility.

Overdosages and death of animals can be brought about by carelessness of this individual. The ability of anesthetizing equipment to perform with maximum efficiency is dependent on its proper design and efficient mechanical operation.

Pathways, compartments, gas chambers, and all other equipment used must be designed to accommodate properly the species of animals being anesthetized. They shall be free from pain-producing restraining devices. Injury of animals must be prevented by the elimination of sharp projections or exposed wheels or gears. There shall be no unnecessary holes, spaces or openings where feet or legs of animals may be injured.

Impellers or other devices designed to mechanically move or drive animals or otherwise keep them in motion or compartmentalized shall be constructed of flexible or well padded rigid material. Power activated gates designed for constant flow of animals to anesthetizing equipment shall be so fabricated that they will not cause injury. All equipment involved in anesthetizing animals shall be maintained in good repair.

Maintenance of a uniform carbon dioxide concentration and distribution in the anesthesia chamber is a vital aspect of producing surgical anesthesia. This may be assured by reasonably accurate instruments which sample and analyze carbon dioxide gas concentration within the chamber throughout anesthetizing operations. Gas concentration shall be maintained uniform so that the degree of anesthesia in exposed animals will be constant.

FSIS can also refer violations for criminal enforcement, since violation of the Humane Slaughter Act has been a crime since And yet, the petition includes a number of accounts of slaughter plants whose conduct clearly merited criminal charges:. In total, the petition cites at least 32 cases of criminal-level animal treatment.

None were prosecuted. This is not exactly a radical agenda. It's not enacting new protection standards. It's not rendering meat economically unviable. It's just requiring that FSIS operate as though its animal welfare mandate matters. The idea is to prove, in court, that the USDA is using an arbitrary interpretation of the law, enacting an arbitrary policy that goes against the intentions of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and, in the case of criminal prosecutions, effectively repealing the law in part, by completely neglecting an entire section of it.

Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to make it to that point. FSIS could agree to the regulatory changes voluntarily. FSIS will have to respond to each of the animal groups' proposals and either explain why it's unwilling to adopt them or respond that it's getting on board. From fiscal year through fiscal year , the number of meat and poultry establishments with a systematic approach to humane handling increased from just over 40 percent to 63 percent.

A systematic approach to humane handling is a comprehensive plan designed to prevent mistreatment from occurring in the first place.